Text Size:
A|
A|
A
Email
Print
"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." -- Rachel Carson
Spindly daddy longlegs scampered across a shady backyard hillside in Springdale where ecologist Rachel Carson played as a child. It was easy to wonder if these insects are distantly related to those that helped to spark Carson's lifelong fascination with the natural world.
There's no doubt, however, that the creepy, crawly bugs were objects of intense interest among a gaggle of little girls who recently spent a week learning about nature at Rachel Carson Homestead Bug Camp.
Studying insects might sound like the last thing 6- to 10-year-old kids would want to do during summer vacation. No Facebook, no iPod, no cell phone, no TV, no electronic media of any kind, just five afternoons of participatory outdoor activities that require no electrical outlets. In an age when a generation of Americans has lost its connection to nature, these kids were enthusiastically outside getting their hands dirty, sitting in the grass, splashing in the water, touching wildlife and gabbing about the only things on their minds: Bugs, bugs, bugs.
Designed for kids 5-12, the popular program teaches children about insects through hands-on experiments and activities, games, hikes and making crafts.
Two sessions remain for summer 2010: July 19-23 and Aug. 9-13, 9:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. After-camp care available until 4 p.m.
$100 per child. An additional $20 per week if after-camp care is required. A 10 percent discount is available for Rachel Carson Homestead members. Five sponsored scholarships for low-income families are available in each class.
Details 724-274-5459, info@rachelcarsonhomestead.org.
Campers arrive each day with a packed lunch and prepared for the weather, sun, insects and poison ivy. Snacks and activity supplies are provided. Each camper gets a Bug Camp T-shirt and Rachel Carson Nature Journal.
"Mrs. Carson truly encouraged Rachel to become one with nature. So that's what we're trying to do," said Iris Strickland, administrative manager of Rachel Carson Homestead. "Bug Camp is one of the programs that we facilitate just to engage children in the environment, make them aware of their surroundings, get them outside and get them active."
This year, the National Register historic site's daytime summer camp sessions got a makeover from ecologist Margaret Zak and educator Paula Purnell. With an office in the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, their Sense of Place Learning organizes interdisciplinary programs for students, teachers and nonprofit organizations.
Science can be taught to children, said Zak. "The trick is to do it in a fun way."
Instead of playing, Bug Camp kids engage in hands-on games that show how nature works, perform in environmentally friendly stage productions and create artwork that provides wholistic entomology lessons at a level beyond their years. Instead of reading or listening to lectures, they participate together in earthy explorations. With a complete absence of "ick," the kids examine and touch tiny critters, identify water-based and land-dwelling insects and build a "web of life" that graphically shows how bugs and everything else in the world are interrelated. Kids at the June summer camp session even wrote and sang a song about -- what else? -- bugs.
"Whether you're an artist or a scientist, you have to be a really good observer. You have to be able to look at things very closely and pay attention to detail," said Purnell. "We're doing nature journals. We've looked at bugs in art. The kids are drawing pictures of the things that they see. We've got art, we've got theater, we've got music and it all helps kids to process all the information they're learning about bugs."
In the Queen Flora Permeable Pavement Puppet Show, said Zak, the kids playact in a fun "eco-fairy tale" about erosion, learning how ecology is linked to human and animal habitat.
No animals are killed at Bug Camp in respect for Carson's philosophy of unintrusive examination and return to the natural habitat. Midge larva, caddisflies and water mites netted from a community park pond were observed under a microscope and returned to their homes.
"The fact that we're right here where Rachel Carson was a little girl is something that you can't do anywhere else," said Purnell. "This is here, and if we can explore the art and the history and the ecology of this place, it's connected to these kids."
One the final day of Bug Camp, the children showed their families all they'd learned in a show-and-tell stage production.
"They're like little sponges absorbing all this information," said Strickland. "I get to talk with their parents -- [the kids] wake up hours before it's time to be here, telling [drivers] to, 'Hurry up, let's go.' They have a desire to be here. They embrace the activity."
"We don't eat bugs at Bug Camp," said Lilly Iadicidco, 6, of Cheswick. "We learned to not hurt bugs and not kill daddy longlegs and stuff, even though they're scary. They're good for the environment. The funnest part [of Bug Camp] is when you get to hold bugs and go up on the hill and catch them."
Jayden Cochran of New Kensington, who turned 10 on the first day of Bug Camp, said she learned about "some fascinating creatures." Hadley Collin, 6, of Cambridge, said bugs "sometimes crawl all over you, but we learned about Rachel Carson and stuff and we don't want to kill any bugs because they're very good."
Rachel Carson Homestead is at 613 Marion Ave., Springdale. 724-274-5459, info@rachelcarsonhomestead.org, www.rachelcarsonhomestead.org. Sense of Place Learning can be reached at 412-727-6440, 724-838-7175, senseofplacelearning@gmail.com, www.senseofplacelearning.org.
Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
