Friday, July 22, 2016

Junior Naturalists...The Adventure Continues!


The 2016 Junior Naturalist Camp with Thanksgiving Point and the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum was an epic success this year! The boys and girls who attended were excited to learn about the process of creating bug and plant collections and assess the scientific findings that they made throughout the week. The camp started at Thanksgiving Point where the students learned how to discover nature by observing and recording what they found. Next, they were taught that being as descriptive as possible when they recorded the specimens they caught for the plant and bug collections would help them with their scientific studies later on. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the students came to the Bean Museum to learn the proper ways of collecting before they headed out to South Fork and Stewart Falls to capture their very own plants and insects. Using plant presses and containment vials, the kids stored the plants they picked and caught the insects they wanted for their collections. 

As the plants dried and the bugs chilled, the kids toured the many collection facilities that are available at the Bean Museum. Once they had learned all there was to know about the importance of creating collections, the kids returned to their own collections and learned how to properly prepare and display their plants and insects. They returned to Thanksgiving Point on Thursday to learn how to research and identify all of the specimens they had taken from South Fork and Stewart Falls, and how to incorporate the information into their collections. Friday was the big sharing day for the kids, where they returned to the Bean Museum once more to take their collections and their newfound knowledge and present to museum goers. The kids had the opportunity to teach museum guests everything they had learned throughout the week, as well as show them the collections they had personally created. By the time the Junior Naturalist camp was all over, the scientific world had gained eight young scientists into their community! The kids had an incredible time and loved all of the hard work they put into their collections. 

Join us next year for the chance to see your child transform into a full-blown scientist!



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