The weather this week has been all over the place, but today at Garden Camp we had a lovely second to last day in the Garden!
Our theme for the week is Plants and People, and while building on that theme we spent the focus of today learning about how other cultures use plant material. There are many ways that plants can be used. Not only is it great to enjoy plants for their beauty and the nutrients they give us if we eat them, but some many plants are used for medicinal purposes, as well as plants previously being used as tools.
Campers had the opportunity to really focus on the medicinal properties of different herbs during content specialist time with Spencer. Groups were able to collect different herbs from our very own garden while learning about what special things they do. Campers drew these plants and then made kits to take home!
The Cedars, Walnuts, and Magnolias all did different things today. Some of them played games where they acted like animals, others spent some time really in the Children's Garden, and some had the chance to play wildflower bingo! Whether they were having a dance party, doing nature walks, using magnifying glasses to identify things, or looking for gophers, our campers had a great day.
Speaking of using magnifying glasses-- today with AJ our campers had a great time learning about decomposers with a special focus on invertebrates. They had the chance to learn that earwigs and black garden beetles are insects, but roly poly bugs are not! Does your camper remember what roly polys are? (Hint: They're actually crustaceans!) Other decomposers they had some time to chat about were snails and worms. With AJ they were able to create their very own decomposers after deciding two main points: what they eat and where they are from. We had a lot of snail/earwig hybrids!
Questions For My Camper:
-What are some ways that we use plant material in our home? What are some ways you learned that are different than what we normally do? (tools, medicine)
-Could you tell me one new thing you learned today?
-What did your decomposer eat? Where did it live?
We've had a great week so far and we can't believe that tomorrow is already Friday.
If you are interested in learning a little bit more about what we did this week with our groups, we invite you to join us at the Great Meadow on Friday at 3:15p. Our campers will sit in circles with their groups and discuss different things they learned and review different activities they participated in together. We will ask you to sign-out your camper upon arrival to our Open House but you are welcome to stay until your group has completed their circle time. We will begin transitioning from our Open House to Pick-Up around 3:45pm. At this time you are welcome to head out with your camper.
Thank you so much for choosing Garden Camp and sharing another wonderful day with us!
Jenn Tapler she/her
Garden Camp Director
Office: 415-661-1316 x404
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