For the first time, ChildrenConnect Newnan Children’s Museum and Keep Newnan Beautiful partnered to bring Kid’venture Camp to downtown Newnan this summer. The first session “Let’s Explore Pollinators” took place June 5-8 at the ChildrenConnect museum, led by Page Beckwith, director of Keep Newnan Beautiful.
Eighteen young campers learned all about bees, caterpillars, butterflies, and bat species. They simulated pollination, sampled honey, made butterfly suncatchers, saw live bee honeycombs with Clay Creek Farms, and visited with real life fruit bats, birds, and other animals, courtesy of ZooPro Adventures. “Ethan really loved that Ms. Page let him collect bugs and bring them home. He was surprised to learn that birds eat butterflies! He really has been very excited to go to camp each morning,” said Michelle Derrickson about her son Ethan, age 6, who attended.
Catherine Orlandi, who assisted with leading Kid’venture camp said, “a moment that stood out to me was on the last day when a camper, who was looking at the macaw parrot and lizard asked, ‘which one is the pollinator?’ You could really see his wheels turning and it was neat to see the lessons from earlier in the week come full circle. The pollinator lessons were a good extension for 1st graders plus and it was a great way for kindergarteners to get started learning about the subject. Tasting honey, talking about birds and bats, all while getting an up close look at them made for a hands-on learning experience that will help the kids remember the language they learned.”
The next and final Kid’venture Camp session is “Mad Scientist Camp” on July 10-13, where campers will learn all about water properties while making snow, polymers through building with magnetic sand, chemical reactions while making ice cream, and they will get to meet a real mad scientist! Learn more and register while spots remain at www.ChildrenConnectMuseum.com
