Our Animal Ambassador this week is Harlow the Desert Tortoise.  If you haven't received your packet, you can download Harlow here.​​

For details each day, click on the day of the week below.  You can also download a PDF​​ of the week's activities.  If you are looking for more information or details about the animal groups or some of the scientific terms used during camp, see the Additional Resources​ section below.

Monday - Water Pathways​

Tuesday - Native/Non Native

Wednesday - Endemic, Threatened, Endangered...Oh My!

Thursday - 5 R's

Friday - Your Impact

INTRODUCTION

​YOU are the future, learn how to help Mother Earth thrive! During this virtual week of camp, campers will learn how to help preserve our natural resources through fun activities that can all be done at home!

KINDNESS THEME OF THE WEEK

This week our kindness activities will be focused on kindness to animals. Record your kindness activities in your Nature Journal and log them into OCDE's One Billion Acts of Kindness page.

Google Drive​ - Videos from Check-in Calls (recorded without campers)

NSI Backyard Missions - This page has all the missions, including versions in different languages.​

Monday - Water Pathways

Nature Journal Topic

Write a poem or story about why water is important to you, what you enjoy about water or what it means to you to protect our water resources. ​​

Kindness Activity

• Make extra efforts today to reuse water. Leftover water from boiling spaghetti? Let it cool then pour it on a plant! Poured a glass of water yesterday and forgot about it? Use it today to wash dishes or rinse fruits and vegetables!
• Give your family some friendly reminders to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated on hot summer days.
  

Get Moving

Stand up and practice moving like water! Can you wave your arms up and down like the waves of the ocean? Crawl very, very slowly like a steady stream? Dash across the room as fast as you can like a rushing river? Jump around and make a splash like rain falling from the clouds? Or is laying still on the floor like a calm lake more your style? Practice your moves five times!

Craft/Experiment - Watershed Model​​

Materials:

• 2 sheets of paper
• 2 different colored washable crayons
• Water*
• *If possible, use a spray bottle to better mimic rain, a cup as a substitute will also work, but you will need less water.​
  

1. Take the paper and crumple it up into a ball. Undo the crumple but try not flatten it out completely. It should be a little rounded on the top, this is our watershed.
2. Use a colored crayon to trace where you think water will go if it were to rain on your crumpled paper watershed.
3. For an extra challenge, use a different colored crayon or pencil to trace where you think grass and soil is on your watershed.
4. Test your watershed. Begin pouring or spraying a small amount of water to mimic a rain storm on your paper. What do you notice? Were you correct with your drawings on where the water flows? Or did something different happen?
5. You can repeat this experiment as many times as you'd like and you can change how crumpled or how flat your paper is to see if that changes where your water flows.

Craft/Experiment - Watershed Model​​​

Materials:

• Shoe box or bowl (if building indoors) OR an open area outdoors
• Non living things including soil, rocks, pebbles or sand
• Plant materials including leaves, twigs, grass, flowers, weeds and seeds
• Water
  
  

1. To slow, spread and sink rainwater many people build swales in their yard or neighborhood. A swale is an area with living and nonliving natural items that increase the amount of rain water that soaks into the ground.
2. Start by filling your shoe box with a layer of dirt or soil. You can decide how much or how little. If starting outdoors without a container, try to clear your area as much as possible so only the dirt or soil is seen.
3. Begin adding non living things you found. Do you want to add an entire layer of pebbles/rocks? Do you want just a few in one area? The possibilities are endless! You could even model your swale after a place in nature you have visited before.
4. Add your living things*. Do you want a variety of plants? Do you want many or just a few? Think about the texture of the plants, how they feel in your hand, will some absorb water better than others? *Please do not pull flowers/plants out of the ground or off of trees for your experiment. Try to find ones that are loose on the ground or no longer growing.
5. Make it rain! Carefully pour a light stream of water over your swale and observe if the water is sinking into the ground or running off. A watering can would mimic rain perfectly, but a cup will be a fine substitute. If doing this experiment indoors please place your container in a sink or area that is safe for water in case of any spills. Visit here to follow a step by step photo tutorial. ​
   

Family Engagement Activity

Making choices to conserve water at home can lead to a huge positive impact in the environment when that water eventually makes it back to the environment. Complete this home water audit to get a better idea of how much water your family uses and any changes you can make in the future.

1. Showers: How many showers does your family take a day? About how long is each one?
2. Baths: How many baths does your family take a day?
3. Toilets: How many times a day does your family flush the toilet? (The average is four flushes per person.)
4. Tooth Brushing: Most family members brush their teeth at least twice a day for about two minutes each time. Leaving the faucet on while brushing your teeth wastes a lot of water. How often does your family brush their teeth?

For an optional addition, here are some equations to calculate the number in gallons of how much water your family uses for these activities.

Water use Activity	Gallons per Minute or use	Minutes or Uses per Day	Total Water Use per Day
Showers	5 gal/minute	x	=
Baths	36 gal/ use	x	=
Tooth Brushing	3 gal/ min	x	=
Toilet Flushing	5 gal/ flush	x	=​

​

Tuesday - Native/Non Native

Nature Journal Topic

When invasive plants move into new areas, they usually take up space, water and sunlight that native plants need to survive. Imagine you are a native plant losing your resources to non native plants, describe in your Nature Journal how you would feel and what you could do to try to survive.​​​

Kindness Activity

• ​​When you see your neighbors on the street, wave to them and say “Hi."

• Offer to help pull weeds or invasive plants from your yard, a neighbor's yard or your community garden.​​​
  
  

Get Moving - Plant Dance

• Wiggle your feet and shimmy your legs while singing “sip sip sip", these are your roots that soak up water!
• Now wave your arms up and down while singing “food and water, food and water." This is your stem as food and water travel up and down.
• Stick out your hands, palms up while singing “yummy yummy yummy." These are your leaves soaking up the sunlight to make delicious food.
• Now fan out your fingers around your face like the petals of a flower and sing “hello pollinators!"
• Put it all together and you can dance to your favorite beat or hum your own rhythm!
  

Craft/Experiment - BioBlitz

​Materials:

• Pencil and paper or Nature Journal
  
  

1. Today you are a botanist conducting a survey on plants and will use your data to research if the plants you saw were native or non native.
2. Gather your writing tools and head outside or look through as many windows as you can at home. Begin your research; what color are the plants that you see? How tall are they? Do any of them have fruit? What size are the leaves or are they missing leaves? Are any of them growing flowers?
3. After collecting your data, now you must solve the mystery of whether these plants are native or not native to your area. You can find information and pictures of plants you spotted by going online and typing in describing words of the plants, by asking family members or neighbors for help, by finding books on native and non native plants at local public libraries or using the Seek by iNaturalist app.​​​
   
   

Craft/Experiment – Wildflower Bookmark

Materials:

• Clear tape​​
  
• White paper
• Optional but recommended: Ruler, 1 dried flower picked from the ground
• Crayons/colored pencils​
  

1. Cut your paper into a rectangle shape, it can be as long or short as you like, but it would be best if it is about as long as two of your pointer fingers. Try to make your paper two or more inches wide, you can use your ruler or have a family member come over to help.
2. If you are using a wildflower you found on the ground, dust off any living things that might be on the flower then gently place it on your paper. If any of the petals or stem is too big and not on the paper, carefully cut the flower to help it fit.
3. Place strips of tape on top of the flower and paper to stick them to each other. Try to use as few pieces as possible, but make sure the entire flower is covered. Cut off any extra tape.
4. You can also draw a wildflower instead of picking one! After you've finished your drawing place strips of tape on top so your artwork does not rub off and fade away. Cut off any extra tape.​
   

Family Engagement Activity

​​The next time you are looking out a window or out on a walk with your family, take turns answering a few questions about invasive species:

1. ​​How would this area look different if a family of elephants lived here?
2.  Where do elephants live in the wild?
3. Why don't elephants live here?

​It may feel silly talking about elephants, but these are questions scientists must research when invasive plants make their way into our neighborhoods.  Have time for a movie? Ask your family to join in watching “Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest."​

Wednesday - Endemic, Threatened, Endangered...Oh My!

Nature Journal Topic

We are all citizen scientists who can take actions to help animals on the endangered species lists. In your Nature Journal, write your very own news article about what threats endangered animals are facing and your ideas on what we can do to save them. Or, draw a picture of two endangered species you want to know more about. 

Kindness Activity

The next time a bee buzzes around you or your family, try to stay calm and carefully walk away without swatting it. Many bee species are dying out so it is up to us to be kind and help them stay alive.​​​

Get Moving - Tiger Musical Chairs

Oh no! You are a curious tiger in search of a big tree to rest in, but many trees are slowly being taken away to build things. You must roam around as the music plays then quickly find a “tree" when the music stops before all the trees are gone! Find an area in your home with places to sit or gather some chairs outside and have a few rounds of musical chairs. Ask family members to join if you'd like.

Craft/Experiment - Web of Life

Materials:

• ​Pieces of construction paper
• Scissors
• Pencil or colored pencils
• Tape or glue/glue stick

1. Cut one sheet of paper into long strips, they can be as wide or thin as you like but about 1 inch wide will do. This will be the beginning of your web.
2. Next, cut out any number of circles or squares from your other sheet of paper. Make them large enough you can write a sentence or draw a picture on.
3. Now you can put together your web. In the center will be an endangered animal of your choice. You can draw them on the cut-out piece of paper, or write its name.
4. Using one long strip of paper, stick one end to your animal and the other to a new piece of cut out paper. On this second piece of cut out paper, you can draw or write about the animals' habitat. Does it need trees? Soil? Big open areas? Lots of water?
5. Take another long strip of paper and stick one end to your habitat piece of paper and the other to a new piece of cut out paper. At this stage your web should have two strips of paper and three cut out pieces of paper.
6. On this cut out, describe or draw the challenges the animal is facing in their habitat. Are they losing the resources used for their homes? Is there lots of trash?
7. Repeat these steps until you have used all of your papers. You can even draw a picture of yourself to show how humans are connected to endangered animals.  You can follow a step by step photo guide here.​​​
   

Family Engagement Activity

Surf the web as a family to find out more about one threatened or endangered species. Discuss with each other what you found most interesting. If the animal is endemic to your area, try finding some local organizations or articles with information to be more involved as citizen scientists. Have time for a movie? Ask the family to join in watching Disney's film “Bambi."​

​

Thursday - 5 R's

Nature Journal Topic

How does practicing the 5 R's (refuse, reuse, rot, repurpose and recycle) help our Earth, and what would happen if we stopped doing all of them? Why would that be a problem? Or, draw a picture of a happy planet Earth with no trash and lots of plants and animals! ​

Kindness Activity

• ​​5 R's: Turn off lights and the TV when you are the last person to leave a room. You can also unplug your devices when not in use to save electricity, like unplugging your iPad/laptop after it is finished charging!

• 5 R's: Hold the door open for someone. A polite act can brighten someone's day!​​
  

Get Moving

Walk around your home or neighborhood and play a few rounds of I Spy. You will be looking for items that help do the 5 R's: refuse, reuse, rot, repurpose and recycle. Bonus point if you spot someone practicing one of the 5 R's like seeing someone adding to their compost!​

Craft/Experiment - Plastic Yarn

​​Materials:

• ​Scissors
• Plastic grocery bags, the very thin kind are best but the thicker reusable ones will do too.​​
  

1. Lay one plastic bag at a time flat on a surface that will not be scratched. If you need to, perform your experiment outdoors.
2. Cut the handles off, then cut the bottom seam off where the bag is connected.
3. Fold your bag in half like a hotdog, then fold again, then if possible fold again. Your bag should look like a thin rectangle.
4. Cut strips out of your bag by cutting across the folds, you can make them as wide or thin as you like but about 1 inch apart is great.
5. Unloop all of your strands and start connecting them by looping one strand through the other and tying a knot just like you would be tying a shoe.
6. Now that your plastic yarn is complete, the possibilities are endless with what you can create. You can access a step by step tutorial here. ​ ​
   
   

Craft/Experiment- Micro Mosaics

Materials:

• Paper (any color)
• Glue/glue stick
• Tiny pieces of trash that are safe to touch

Look around your home or outside in your yard for very small pieces of trash like candy wrappers, pieces of chip bags or papers, receipts and even scraps from other crafts you have created in the past.

1. Lay out your items on your work surface, then begin gluing them on to your paper one at a time. You can be as creative as you like.
2. A mosaic is made of many small items that when put together make one large picture. You can arrange your pieces of trash in any way you like. Show your art work off to friends and family! ​​​
   

Family Engagement Activity

Conduct a family interview about trash. Have everyone take turns answering a few questions and discuss your answers. ​

1. What is trash made out of?
2. Where do you think trash goes?

How do you feel about the amount of trash we make at home?
​​Have time for a movie? Ask the family to join in watching Disney's film “Wall-E".​

Friday - Your Impact

Nature Journal Topic

Reflect on the different topics and crafts we did this week; did you learn anything that surprised you? How do you want to be more involved in helping our planet? List some ways you'd like to help your community or draw a picture of you acting on your ideas.​

Kindness Activity

​Take something you've learned about this week and turn it into an action to be kinder to our planet. This can range from reducing how much water you use to participating in citizen science to learn more about endangered species.​

Get Moving - Scavenger Hunt

Natural resources are materials found in nature that are useful or necessary for living things. We use natural resources every day. We can make choices every single day to help slow down how fast we use Earth's natural resources. During this scavenger hunt, make observations using your senses just as a scientist would!  Click here to download the scavenger hunt worksheet.​

Look for something:

1. Made of wood
2. Made of glass (sand is used to make glass)
3. Made of metal
4. Made of rock or stones
5. Made of oil (hint: plastic is made from oil)
6. That is helping conserve energy in your home
7. That brings water for you to use (hint: think about where you can wash your hands, get a drink of water)
8. That you can re-use
9. That you can recycle
10. That uses soil
11. That an animal can use to survive
12. That needs water to survive ​
    

​Craft/Experiment - Community Flyer

​​Materials:

• White paper or large construction paper
• Crayons/colored pencils/markers​​
  

1. ​​​​​​Decorate your paper with inspirational words and drawings to let your neighborhood know ways they can make a positive difference for our Earth. It can be drawings of you, your family, friends or plants and animals you really care about.
2. Hang your sign up on your window or somewhere in your yard for others to see.​
   

Family Engagement Activity

​On a family walk keep your eyes open for any bodies of water, open fields or other areas that might be habitats for animals. Talk with each other about any pollution you might see, but also any pollution that might be there that you can't see with your own eyes. If it looks fairly clean, discuss how you and your community have put efforts into keeping these areas clean and safe for local animals. ​​​

Additional Resources

Glossary
​​

Videos

These additional videos can help further your learning about Green Earth!​

• Backyard Missions: Water and Clouds
• 3 R's song  
  

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