Others turn their gaze to the murky calm water to catch minnows and other small fish with their homemade fishing poles.
“This is more fish feeding than fish catching,” Bridget Curry, head counselor, said laughing.
The campers, age 7 to 14, were participating in Rotary Park’s holiday nature camp. The camp, in its third year, aimed to teach children about the environment around them. The campers embarked on nature hikes, fish in the ponds and off the pier and make homemade nature crafts.
“The kids enjoy the ability to come out and be outdoors,” Curry said. “We do a lot of active stuff. We don’t sit around.”
The campers spend most of their time outside. On Dec. 29, the group embarked on a hike from the Rotary Park Environmental Center to the Glover Bight trail. Walking the trail, the children saw spiders spinning their intricate webs.
The tour ended at the pier, where the counselors encouraged the children to hop off the boardwalk and into the muck below.
“If it’s muddy that’s all the better for us,” Curry said. “We love to get muddy and yucky because most kids like messy. There’s no way around it.”
Once down in the dirt, the campers dug through the mud looking at tiny crabs, small clear shrimp and any other small marine life they could find. The campers also went fishing using English muffins as bait. Their homemade fishing poles were taped together. The poles were made out of sticks, had paper clips for hooks and fishing line. Some even used feathers to help catch the eye of a minnow.
Anonda Rapp, 11, said she was hoping to use something a little more substantial than bread as bait.
“I learned the fish like ham and cheese,” Anonda said. “When you put the ham in (the water) the sun fish go crazy.”
The fifth-grader said she was having a lot of fun at camp and would miss going outside once school resumed. Runa Chernik, 9, said she’d also miss the camp.
“My yard isn’t as fun,” she said.
Curry said she wanted the camp to focus on the old-fashioned values of having kids go outside and explore. The campers spent up to six hours out of an eight-hour day outside, either playing on the playground, around the pond or walking the various trails.
The nature camp concluded with a long hike through the park grounds.
“We basically follow the trail, then forage our way through the mangroves,” said Megan Fauci, assistant counselor. “Last year we got stuck in the mud up to our hips.”
Curry said the campers meander through the park, getting dirty, before eventually reaching the riverbed. Once they reach their destination, the campers start to explore the river.
This was Tre Cooper’s first time at the nature camp. The 10-year-old said he was excited to go on the hike.
“We’re going to hike for six hours and we don’t know where we’re going, it’s really fun,” Tre said.
Ethan Locklin, 9, was also looking forward to the adventure.
“I like going on the hikes,” he said, while trying to catch a crab in his small green net.
Ethan, a veteran camper, said his favorite part of the camp is getting messy and catching things.
Curry said the campers make up names for the areas they discover along their trek. She said there’s a beach named Monkeys and a part of the Rotary Park named Russia, according to the campers.
“We have very creative kids, it’s awesome,” Curry said.
No comments:
Post a Comment