We had an incredible second day of camp here at Garden Camp this week!
While continuing to learn all about some of the Extraordinary Ecosystems we have here in the Garden, today our campers focused their attention on the Coast Redwood Forest. Did you know that coast redwoods are the tallest trees in the world? Redwood forests help cool the planet through carbon sequestration! These forests create incredible ecosystems that contain fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals.
With our content specialist Ingrid, our campers learned all about the rings of a tree. We learned that by looking at tree rings we can tell a lot about the forest that the redwood lived in - like if it had a fire that year, or bugs! Ingrid had our campers then think about important memories in their own lives. Maybe the first day of school, or the birth of a sibling! All campers had some creative ideas. After doing some tree etchings, campers were able to draw their own important memory on the other side of the paper. Then we made a chain of all of the rings!
We were also able to spend some time in the California Native Garden with our content specialist AJ. Before doing some exploring in that garden, thinking about the different wild animals that might call this place home, AJ taught our campers a lot about how redwoods work.
Did you know that some amphibians live in redwood trees and never even come down to the ground? Redwoods have spongey bark that absorbs more moisture. They even grow to be so tall that at a certain height, they start absorbing moisture through fog that passes through!
If you and your camper are looking for more information about redwoods, this website here has some fun information that you can look over together! https://www.savetheredwoods.org/redwoods/interactive-redwood-forest-facts/
Questions For My Camper:
-What is something new you learned about redwood trees today?
-Did you get to feel the bark of the redwood today? What did it feel like? Can you describe it to me?
-What memories did you include on the back of your tree etching? How have those memories helped you grow?
For Adventure Day this week, if we leave the Garden, we won't be going too far! As it is Flower Piano week we are using our Adventure Day to really dive into the beauty of music. Some nearby spots we might spend a little bit of time to get out some excess energy are Mother's Meadow, or the field just across the street from the main entrance. If we do leave the Garden for our Adventure Day, we'll always be close by, and will easily be back on top for pick-up!
We'll see you then!
Jenn Tapler
she/her
Garden Camp Director
Office: 415-661-1316 x404
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