Summer Camp Recap: We Like Dirt!

By Carolyn Carlins, Facilitator, Phipps Science Education and Research

Summer Camp Recap - is our weekly seasonal segment featuring our summer camp programs. This is the place for camp parents to find pictures of their campers in action and see all the fun things we did all week. It’s also a great place for educators to pick up craft, story and lesson ideas for their own early childhood programs!

We Like Dirt!

Last week we kicked off the summer camp season with We Like Dirt! Everyday campers had a chance to investigate and explore nature through singing, dancing, and creating with dirt. Throughout the week campers dug to the bottom of what makes up, lives, and grows in the dirt.

Day one focused on the question: what is dirt? Campers picked apart their own dirt samples, finding soil, rocks, grass, and leaves. Next they made a mud pie and painted with dirt to learn about what makes up the soil. They also took a first look at what grows in the dirt while walking amongst the plants in the conservatory.

Day two focused on the bugs that live the dirt. Campers met a real scientist and got to touch millipedes and view a busy ant farm. Then we went out in the discovery garden to look for other creepy crawlers and release ladybugs. Back in the classroom, campers decorated t-shirts with handprints and stampers of things that live and grow in the dirt.

Day three focused on worms and compost. Campers moved like worms and explored their new wiggly friends with their hands. Next campers peered into the worm composting bin, feeding the worms with leftover food and placing new bedding in the top of the bin. Out in the edible garden, campers looked for colorful yarn worms amongst the plants. They also dug in a vegetable bed while exploring the plants that we eat.

Day four focused on plants that grow in the dirt. Campers explored roots and seeds feeling seeds that are smooth, rough, hard and soft. They used seeds and salt dough to create mosaics and planted carrot plants, excited to watch it sprout and grow! As we explored the conservatory one last time campers used their color matchers to search for colorful plants in the conservatory.

What a great start to our summer camp!

For more pictures from this week's camp, please visit the Science Education and Research Facebook page here!

If you would like to read and learn with your own Little Sprout, here are some books suggestions from the week:

Underground by Denise Fleming

Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Lunch by Denise Fleming

Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion

Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni

Photographs taken by Science Education staff.