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The Greenway Foundation

The Greenway Foundation

Revitalizing Rivers. Reconnecting Communities.

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Cherry Creek Train Camp Week 3: Forces of Nature

From storms to tornadoes and earthquakes to volcanoes, campers learned about many amazing forces of nature that have shaped Colorado’s past and will be a part of its future.
Monday: Meteorologists in Training
To start off the week, campers learned some meteorologist skills and some storm basics. First, campers did an experiment to learn the answer to the age-old question, “why is the sky blue?” We put a flashlight up to a milk and water mixture to see how the liquid, just our our atmosphere scatters blue light that we see. Next, we learned more about storms, what their classifications mean, and how they work. We did an experiment with food coloring and shaving cream to make rainclouds and another with colored ice in cold and warm water to see the two “fronts” come together to make a storm! We also made tornadoes in soda bottles, and learned what to do to stay safe in a tornado. 
We wrapped up our first day with exploring in the creek and investigating how different types of weather could affect the water and the plants and animals that live there. 
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Tuesday: Paper and Tree Art
As we moved into the 3-dimensional art world, we focused on trees as our source of inspiration! 
First, we each made our own unique painted hand print tree. While they dried, we used some actual tree “cookies” (slices of tree trunks) to make some ornaments. 
Next, campers thought about how trees are our main source of paper, so we made our own paper out of recycled paper from camp, and we spiced it up with some plant pieces and seeds we collected from around camp. Campers all got to make a unique piece of paper art!
We wrapped up our day by continuing the process of our group art pieces. Today, we started the construction process of our pieces!
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Wednesday: Field Day
For field day this week, we stuck around Johnson Habitat park while we took a closer look at the plants, animals, river, and nonliving things there for more art inspiration! 
Campers went on an exploration hike, caught critters in the river and sketched pictures of what we saw, made nature sculptures, and played water games!
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Thursday: Nature Art
We were very excited to welcome a local guest artist from Originateve today! Ron lead groups of campers through a project of making mini boats to float on the river, completely made of natural materials! Everyone learned new skills in knot tying, using tools, and construction!
Another craft campers made today was nature prints in plaster. First, we found items in nature and printed them in clay. Then, we poured wet plaster over the clay prints and let them dry!
Lastly, we worked in our teams to put our finishing touches on our group art projects, and got to present them to the other campers!

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Friday: Written and Performance Art
To wrap up our week, we shifted our focus to written and performance art that is inspired by nature. 
First, we finished up our project that we started on Monday by using the photos we took to create a collage. 
Then, we worked on our art and acting skills by creating paper bag puppets, writing a skit, and putting on a show!
Next, campers went down to the river to catch some more critters, but not before writing some poetry inspired by the river and park!
Finally, we wrapped up our art week by having a graduation ceremony! 
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Published: July 15, 2019
Category: Elementary, Family, SPREETag: Camp
The Greenway Foundation

About The Greenway Foundation

The Greenway Foundation is a Denver-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Since 1974, we have been leading efforts to reclaim the South Platte River and its tributaries from a virtual cesspool to a place of environmental and recreational pride. Learn More

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The Greenway Foundation

1820 Platte Street, Denver, CO 80202

info@greenwayfoundation.org

303.481.1974

FEIN: 51-0193575

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