We had an absolute blast during our first week of SPREE summer camp this year!
The campers kicked off their summer with our “South Platte River Sleuths” theme. They practiced their observation and investigation skills to understand the importance of the South Platte for the people, plants, and animals that live around it.
We explored the South Platte River like true investigators- solving the mysteries of the river and uncovering the hidden stories of the plants and animals that call it home. Through hands-on investigations, sharpening identification skills, and practicing ranger skills, every camper became an eco-detective ready to protect and explore the South Platte. And of course, we also got to explore and catch creatures in the river every day, too!
We started off the week by meeting the South Platte River (SPR) and the SPREE Force, team members who work together to help keep the SPR healthy, safe, and clean. The chief of the SPREE force is the SPREE mascot, Chompers the Beaver! He gave us a mission to focus on certain skills each day. On Monday, we learned all about his arch nemesis, the Trash Monster!
We created some very cool Trash Monster trap models, and even got to use some cool trash grabbers and gloves to see if we could find some trash that he left behind in the park!
We also learned about why fresh water is so precious and important to us in Denver, the South Platte, and around the world! Did YOU know how much water you use each day? And, we got into the River and explored the very cool living things in there! We learned that we can evaluate the health of the river by analyzing the creatures that live in the water. They all have different tolerances to water quality! We found so many awesome crawdads and insects!
We had a super cool guest visit us on Tuesday, team members from the Denver Parks and Recreation education team! The three visitors were experts in nature, plants, and pollinators. We learned a lot about what insects, arachnids, and pollinators are, and then got to explore the park and find some out in the wild.
After that, we explored more about why pollinators are so important! Can you imagine a world without fruits and vegetables? We also learned about flower and plant anatomy and got to check out some beautiful flowers up close. And we made some adorable bee crafts and learned about very cool bee adaptations!
Next, we got to go in the river again- did you know that many pollinators, such as dragonflies, damselflies, and mayflies start their life cycles in the water and we can catch the nymphs in South Platte?
Wednesday started off with another awesome guest, a Vac Truck from DOTI (Department of Transportation and Infrastructure)! Their huge truck is full of vacuums and hoses so that it can go around to the storm drains around Denver and take out trash that has gotten in them. Storm drains allow water to go from our streets and neighborhoods to the river so that we don’t have flooding, but if there is trash on the ground it can get in the storm drains too- the water doesn’t get cleaned before it goes into the river! There are over 24,000 storm drains just in Denver that lead to the South Platte, so it’s super important to get them cleaned, and for us to help keep our neighborhoods clean, too!
We had tons of fun testing out how the big truck works- we each got to give the vacuum tube a piece of trash to suck up, and, at the end, we all got a shower from the giant hose!
Next, we acted out a story as characters in Denver, who learn that a lot of pollution happens in Denver and around the world by accident! We can help our River out with a few simple actions and being aware of our trash and storm drains. After that we went back outside to tackle another way to help the health of our park habitat- by pulling non-native weeds out of the park! We weeded almost 30 gallons of weeds out of the park- it was a surprising camper favorite activity!
We also got to use some maps and practice our navigation and problem solving skills when we went on a scavenger hunt to find items hidden around the park!
Animals were the topic on Thursday! We had a great time learning about signs and clues that animals leave behind, and even solved a few animal mysteries! We discussed that things like tracks, scat, feathers, fur, shelters, teeth marks, and more are all signs that animals are around even if we don’t see the animals here ourselves.
The first mystery animal we learned about was racoons. We practiced feeling and identifying secret objects in a box, just like raccoons do when they wash their food in water. Then, we made cool raccoon masks and played a raccoon game where we had to be super sneaky!
The other mystery animal we had to identify was a squirrel. We got to see its tracks, scat, skull, and pelt, and used all of those items to make an educated guess. After that, we learned all about owls and discovered even more rodent bones by dissecting owl pellets! We used the bones and some ID charts to figure out which creatures the owls had been eating- pretty gross and cool!
Field day Friday was an absolute blast! We geared up and walked to nearby Vanderbilt park for a fun day full of additional games and activities. We got to hone our super sleuth skills through games that focused on animal skills like listening, sneaking, speed, and teamwork!
After we got back to camp, we enjoyed our last Critter Crawl in the River for the week. And then we wrapped up with our traditional graduation ceremony. Every camper got a personalized graduation note, some stickers, and a certificate of completion for South Platte River Sleuths SPREE camp!
We had a ton of fun this week and hope to see you all again along the River!
Thank You, River Rangers!