2012 Nature Explorers Camps for children ages 6-7

Due to parent request, we have extended all Nature Explorers camp day to 4 hours and made most of the camps a full week! Each day is filled with more advanced hands-on nature and science activities, crafts, and park hikes for the older explorer.  Children should bring a nutritious lunch, snack, and a water bottle.

Soil Detectives Camp

Mon. June 25th – Friday June 29th

9:30 am – 1:30 pm

Fee $197

The soil underneath our feet is an amazing and fascinating world to explore.  Worms and other soil creatures are hard at work around the clock, decomposing the leaf litter and other organic matter into rich compost that feeds plant roots in every garden and field. The Children’s Garden contains a working worm bin where our leftover lunch scraps and fallen leaves feed red wiggler worms, a yard waste bin where our garden trimmings turn into compost with the help of potato bugs and other decomposers, and a “fort zone” where decomposers are hard at work, slowly turning the stumps and branches into wood chips.  Children will learn basic identification skills for all the “soil critters” they’ll see in the magnifiers and microscopes we use to explore and examine this wonderful world, up close and in living color.  Besides learning the who/what/why of decomposition, this camp is also filled with other adventures such as digging and planting in our P-Patch garden, “feeding” the vegetable crops with freshly-harvested compost, doing the “soil shake” and the “dirt dance”.  Your children will come home from this camp with extra amounts of dirt on their knees, matched by giant smiles and interesting stories to share!

Wetlands Adventurers Camp

Mon. July 9th – Fri. July 13th

9:30 am-1:30 pm

Fee $197

Magnuson Park has a variety of wetland areas, each with its own interesting history and ecosystem, and we’ll explore them all in this adventuresome camp! The Wetlands Complex completed in 2009, the new Shore Ponds completed in late 2011, and older wetland areas such as the Frog Ponds that developed on their own after the Naval Air Station runways were demolished.  The Children’s Garden is also bordered by a swale and pond system that absorbs and filters runoff from the entire 4-acre Community Garden!  The hands-on exploration activities  that fill each day of camp will teach children about how wetlands function and the vital role they play in the water cycle, and in the food chain of so many forms of wildlife.  July is a fabulous month to see and hear frogs, dragonflies, songbirds, waterfowl, raptors, and more in all of Magnuson Park’s wetland areas, and this camp is sure to make a splash!

Insect Investigators Camp

Mon. July 30th – Fri. Aug. 3rd

9:30 am – 1:30 pm

Fee $197

The heat of summer brings all sorts of interesting insects into view at Magnuson Park: over 20 species of dragonfly are out on the prowl, ladybugs and other beetles can be seen in 3 of their life cycle stages, scores of grasshoppers and crickets are hopping down the trails, native butterflies and bees are drinking in a bounty of nectar, and much, much more!  Children will learn to identify a wide variety of insects and understand their role in Magnuson’s ecosystems, as well as in their own back yard!  Our hands-on activities in the Children’s Garden and natural areas of the park will include observing how beneficial insect species carry out “nature’s pest control”, and reinforce our “bee safe” rules on how to safely observe and interact with all insects.  They will also have the chance to build beetle houses in the Children’s Garden, and learn insect songs and dances!

Plant Scientists Camp

Mon. Aug. 20th – Wed. Aug. 22

9:30 am-1:30 pm

Fee $127