2022 Splish Splash Camp: Day 3

Hiking. Fishing, and more Exploration

Splish Splash Camp: Day 3

 

IMG_5551Chicken!

Our Tollgate Farm Chickens had a great start today with our campers. We got to hold some chickens and collect quite a bit of eggs to put in our storage, at least seven eggs or more! Since it is quite the hot day, it is always good to check if each set of our animals has enough water, just as we need water to not dehydrate. One important thing to know is that animals are very aware of when they need to eat food or hydrate, and very good about showing their comfort levels with the campers. They know a lot more than we think!

H2O PurifierIMG_5548

This activity is somewhat similar to the activity that we did yesterday in talking about water usage, except this one discusses water purity. The campers had to try and make a filter to catch all the dirt, bugs, and other things in unclean water, using coffee filters, grass, and more to try and stop the dirt from flowing into the water. This activity is a brilliant way to talk about the concept of using a filter to clean something, and helped visualize why filters can help us make more clean water.

IMG_5569Jelly Tacos & Pico de Gallo

As always, the treats we make at garden kitchen will be posted on our blog weekly! Today was another day of learning chopping skills, on strawberries and tomatoes. Knowing how to chop things is a very important life skill that you can use in life as you learn how to cook more and more food. The Jelly Tacos were very fun to make, using minced strawberries, whole blueberries, on a slice of bread folded like a taco. The Pico de Gallo was also quite tasty, with freshly chopped tomatoes, cut by our amazing campers!

FishingIMG_5525

Remember how we practiced casting lines yesterday? Today we put those amazing skills to use, by going fishing in our Tollgate Pond! There are different kinds of fish that live there, including a Sun Fish, and
Large-mouth Bass that were caught most often. We had a surprise visit from a snapping turtle that lives in the pond, and unfortunately loves to bite the bait we put on our fish hooks, so we had to pull our bait out of the water to stop the turtle from getting caught on the line!

IMG_5563Vernal Pool Hiking

Hiking in water? More like to the water source. vernal pools are natural spreads of water that occur with heavy rainfall within the forest. MSU Tollgate forest is pretty large, filled with Aspen, Maple and all other kinds of trees that make up our beautiful forest. The vernal pools are surrounded by fallen logs, moss, leaves, and all sorts of little bugs and frogs that call the Vernal Pool home. 

STEAMIMG_5554

Boat making! Almost all our campers are completely done making their boats. The campers will then make their finishing touches, and then we shall test them to see how they fair on water! Campers made the  boats out of foil plates, aluminum foil sheets, cardboard, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, and more to form the base of their boats. There's more fun to be had here, so stay tuned!

 

Check our more of our photos here!

2022 Splish Splash Water Camp

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