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| You can't quite see it, but her legs were crossed here... cute! |
Monday was Memorial Day, so we did the traditional grill out.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Daniel went to Zoo Camp. Here's a brief summary of what he did each day:
Tuesday - Today we learned about animals that lay eggs.
We learned that....
1. Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, Fish and Invertebrates all lay eggs.
2. Mammals do not normally lay eggs but there are 2 exceptions… both of which come from Australia. (The Platypus & Echidna)
We visited the Tropics building, Beaks & Feet, and the Discovery barn…. Ask your camper which animals they saw today that lay eggs. (birds & amphibians)
The 5-6 yr olds pretended that they were dung beetles. These insects steal elephant or rhino poop, roll them to a safe place and then lay their eggs inside it. The poop provides a nice safe and warm place for their eggs to hatch and then provides the young with their first meal! GROSS!!!! They also learned the life cycle of a frog. Frogs like all amphibians start out as a squishy egg. Check in with your camp to see if they can remember the last 3 stages. (FROGS- eggs, tadpole, froglet and adult frog.)
Wednesday - Today’s topic was Animal Detectives. We learned about how items left behind by animals can help us understand their everyday activities. We learned….
1. By examining poop and bones, we can determine what an animal might eat, whether they might be a predator or a prey animal, and whether or not they might be sick.
2. Also the color of bones can also tell us how recent the animal died.
3. When looking at animal tracks, we can determine is the animal was walking or running, if they are injured, how many might be with them, what direction they are going and can even identify the animal itself.
Everyone started out the day touring the zoo. We went to Snakes, Australia and Asia. On our tour, we looked for animal evidence, tracks, feathers and poop!
After lunch we, made track molds and talked about what type of animals each are. Whether a carnivore or herbivore would have claws or hoofs. We looked at different specimens of animal poop and tried to match “whodunit.” Don’t worry, they have been sanitized! Then, we dissected owl pellets. Owls cannot digest bones, feathers and furs so they gather these item into ball or pellets and cough them up. By dissecting these, you can tell what the owl has eaten.
Thursday - Today’s topic was Fact or Fiction… Mythical creatures and their real life counterparts.
We learned…
1. Many of our favorite mythical creatures actually were inspired by some the animals we see today.
2. These creatures were created to explain sense of things we couldn’t understand.
3. Animals, both real and mythical, play an important role in human history and folklore.
While it was still cool, we spent the morning in Africa where we learned that.
1. Elephants (mammoth) skulls were used as the inspiration for the cyclops.
2. Gorillas and other great apes may have been mistaken for bigfoot.
3. Scimitar Horned Oryx look a lot like unicorns from the side. &
4. Lions were the part of the inspiration for griffins.
After lunch the 5-6 yr olds read a story Bigfoot and made “100% Unauthentic Yeti Hair” (don’t tell anyone… its actually Llama Hair!)
Last but not least, all the camps fed the goats.
Daniel really enjoyed his time there. He went all day from 8:30-3:30, just like a full school day. He said the day went by fast, and that his favorite day was Thursday because they got to ride the tram to Africa. (He was also pretty excited that Daddy got to take him to zoo camp each morning since Daddy's work is near the zoo.)
Leslie and I got there a little early two of the three days so she could ride the carousel:
And last but not least, we had a little family water fight tonight:
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