This week, campers explored the world like scientists! Each day, campers delved into the wonders of different “-ologies,” including biology, hydrology, paleontology, and more! From studying dinos and bugs to investigating water and birds, campers discover how each “-ology” connects to the plants, animals, and ecosystems of the South Platte River.
And, we went into the South Platte River every day to cool down, catch critters, and look at it through a different scientific lens each day!
Monday: Paleontology
We kicked off the week with a crowd favorite- paleontology! So many of the campers already knew a lot about dinosaurs, and we all got to share our knowledge and learn together!
First, we talked about the history of dinosaurs and when they roamed the earth- over 300 million years ago! We measured out a huge timeline and marked some significant time periods along a measuring tape to help us visualize the history. And, we learned how things get fossilized, where some were discovered in Colorado, and who discovered them! We even made our own mini “fossils” with some salt dough and some mini dino toys to make imprints.
Learning about dinosaurs can cover many subjects- next, we learned about some language history and vocab when we learned what many of the different word parts of different dino names mean. Then, we built our own dinosaur names and drew what they would have looked like!
To cool off from the heat of the day, we extracted some toy dinosaurs of our own from some ice chunks to practice some paleontologist skills of our own!
When we went down to the river, we learned about its history and how it may have looked and changed over time during dinosaur times. And, did you know that dragonflies live in their early life stages in the water? We imagined what their huge nymphs would have looked like in the river vs the smaller ones we find now!
Tuesday: Zoology
Zoology is the study of all kinds of animals, and we zoomed in on two types today: entomology (insects) and herpetology (reptiles and amphibians).
For our herpetology lesson, we started off by comparing and contrasting reptiles and amphibians through making venn diagrams- they are quite similar! They both lay eggs and are cold blooded, however, reptiles are scaly, live more on land than water, and molt or shed to grow. Amphibians have wetter skin and go through metamorphosis- reptiles do not! Next we made a colorful snake craft and got to investigate real snake skin! We also tried to practice moving like a snake- we found it challenging to try and move without arms or legs!
Next, we zoomed in on the tiny world of insects, we started off by learning what an insect is and what some kinds are. They usually have 3 body parts, 6 legs, antennae, compound eyes, and some have wings. We then got to go on our own bug hunt around the park! We caught things like ants, ladybugs, beetles, grasshoppers, and more!
When we went down to the river we talked about what types of insects, reptiles, amphibians, and other types of animals call the South Platte home. Some of these are frogs, turtles, snakes, fish, birds, and of course the many insects that start their life cycles in the water such as dragonflies!
Wednesday: Hydrology
Hydrologists study water, which is a perfect topic for SPREE! The campers started with a discussion about how much fresh water is in the world, how much is accessible, and how much water they use each day! The planet is mostly covered in water, but very little is fresh and accessible for use, less than 1%! This is why it is so important to take care of our water resources like the South Platte. We first played a game called “storm drain tag” outside where we learned that the more people help to keep our communities and rivers clean, the easier it is to make a difference!
Next, we played a game acting out the water cycle- we acted like a water drop traveling through different stages and locations such as a cloud, ocean, glacier, river, and even inside of plants and animals! We also went down to the river to learn some river anatomy and did our daily critter crawl. Our water-focused crafts today were making some crayon-melt rain drops and making some comics about a journey of a rain drop!
Thursday: Meteorology and Astronomy
On Thursday we looked to the skies for inspiration as we learned about weather and space! We talked about how the sun appears to rise and set, and how it changes in position throughout the day (even though we’re actually the ones moving!) This inspired us to make some shadow art out of some animal figurines- they turned out very cool! We also made some sparkly “moon sand” and “moon rocks” when we talked about other objects out in the night sky!
Next, we got to do some weather experiments! We saw how warm and cold air move and make storms with a dyed water demonstration and we got to see how clouds drip their rain down once they are saturated through observing some food coloring come through a cloud of shaving cream! Then we got inspired to make our own shaving cream cloud swirl art.
We then became cloud experts, learning all of the different types and making our own cloud observation tools. And of course we took them outside to see what types of clouds we could find today!
When we went down to the river for critter crawl, we also investigated how the weather impacts the river and its inhabitants- especially through temperature and turbidity. Many of the creatures can be sensitive to heat, they often prefer the water to be pretty cold! And, they don’t want the water too clear or too cloudy- just enough to be able to hide and find food!
And, an extra special part of today was that many of our campers and teachers dressed up as “ologists” or scientists as a special theme day!
Friday Field Day: Ornithology and Botany
Field day was an excellent opportunity to delve into a few more ologies as we went on a walking field trip to nearby Vanderbilt park! We took a nature walk along the river and enjoyed spending time at shady Vanderbilt park where we did some activities about birds (ornithology) and plants (botany)!
We practiced communicating with each other via bird song, learned about how bird nests are built and why they are important, and made some bird feeders to bring back to the feathered friends in our own backyards.
We also explored the plants of the park and got to identify some and take some home through making some clay impressions and plant rubbings!
After we got back to camp we did our last critter crawl of the week to help cool us off, and then we wrapped up our ologies week with a fabulous graduation celebration! Every camper got a graduation note and a sticker.
We had a great time learning about so many different sciences that explore nature this week. We’ll see you along the South Platte River, scientists!
South Platte River Sleuths (Session 1), SPREE Summer Camp: June 1-5, 2026