Posts Tagged ‘Sawhill Ponds’

Eldo goes to Ponds, goes Craft Crazy!

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

We had another awesome day in Eldo! We drove the MDC vans today, which was a little bit different, but all of our campers seemed to have a great time riding in the vans! :) To begin our day, we headed out to Sawhill Ponds–on the way, some of our campers made up a song combining “Puff the Magic Dragon” and “Princess Pat!” Once to the Ponds, we sang some waking-up songs and then played a fabulous all-camp game called “Hail to the Rainjacket!” It was tons of fun, ask your campers how it’s played!

The Drag-ants with a Silent ‘P’ and the Cave-Dwelling Purple Water Diamonds headed out to fish–the hike to the good fishing spot was beautiful! We saw a snake skin, and also some dead frogs. Once we hit the fishing spot, we threw the casting net a few times, and actually caught two fish! We also caught a toad, named Croak, and caught two crawdads. Then, we ate lunch and headed back to the vans. The Fuschia Cats, meanwhile, did some amazing facepainting and bugcatching, and used our fishing rods as well.

After lunch, we all headed back to Base Camp, where we had a great time rotating between three stations. One station was our climbing wall, one station was teambuilding with toobeez (ask your campers about the different structures they all worked together to make!) and one station was crafts crazy! Our campers got a chance to work with some master crafts-people to create marble-ized paper, which they then laminated onto notebooks to make a personalized notebook for school. They also had the chance to draw on and decorate baseball caps, and had the chance to make kids in sleeping bag magnets. It was super-exciting! Ask to see your camper’s crafts!

We ended the day with some delicious grapes for snack and some quieter afternoon songs, accompanied by Director Tommy on the guitar. Tomorrow, we’re heading back into Eldorado Canyon for our final day of camp! See you tomorrow for an awesome day!

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Reptiles at Sawhill Ponds

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Wednesday was another great day as we made our way out to Sawhill Ponds for a Naturalist tour around the water.  Before we got on the bus in the morning, we had time to make snakes, which were used for bracelets, toy snakes, and even bookmarks.  We ended up with very colorful and creative snakes.  Once the bus returned from Eldorado Canyon, we loaded up and headed out to the Ponds.

Upon arrival at Sawhill Ponds, we settled into the picnic tables for a delicious lunch before our Naturalist guide Robin arrived.  We began our tour by wading in the water around the edge of the pond looking for reptiles.  Our bus driver Ed was able to find us a toad in the mud, and caught it for all of us to see.  We also found shrimp, maefly larva, and tiny snakes in the water.  Out of the water we were able to look at all the creatures and plants we had scooped up under magnifying glasses.

Next we headed out on a hike around the lake to look for more creatures and to read a story that taught us all about what reptiles are, and how they are different from mammals and amphibians.  Our guide Robin was extremely helpful and we were very grateful to have her there.  After the story we had to jump back on the bus to get back just in time for GORP, which the Star Wars GORP Eating Tree Snakes had created, before parents came to pick up the campers.

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Sawhill Ponds

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Wednesday was an exciting day as we got the chance to visit Sawhill Ponds in East Boulder, where we were given a tour by four trained Naturalists.  After our morning routine of songs and games, we got together in order to make binoculars for our trip.  We decorated and put together our binoculars which we made out of paper towel tubes, and yarn.  It was a great project which got our campers excited about the day ahead of them.  Once our binoculars were completed we loaded onto the bus and headed out to Sawhill Ponds.

At the ponds we found a beautiful place to eat lunch while we waited for the Naturalists to arrive.  We were surprised to find that we would have four naturalists with us, when we only expected one.  This allowed us to break into two groups with two naturalists per group.  The Naturalists walked us around the ponds, stopping to explain the root systems of trees and the importance of water to the plants, not to mention catching and looking at bugs.  We also learned the importance of keeping our natural habitats clean, and were able to help clean trash out of the ponds.  Our campers seemed to particularly enjoy helping clean up the trash.  We were very lucky to have the Naturalists there, as they engaged the campers very well, and made the day a huge success.

Our time at the ponds was so exciting and fun, that we were late returning to base camp, but even with a small amount of time we were still able to squeeze in a story with our afternoon snack before singing “On Top of Spaghetti” and saying farewell to all of our campers.  Tomorrow is a favorite day of many campers as we will be heading over to the Spruce Pool for a day of swimming.

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Junior Goes to Sawhill Ponds

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Today was a pretty rainy and cold day, but that didn’t stop the MDC junior campers from having a great day! We began our day inside at Base Camp–we did weather reports (each camper describes how they’re feeling in terms of the weather) and sang “Singing in the Rain” and “Boom-chicka-boom” to get our muscles moving. Then, we headed outside to play “What Time Is It, Mr. Cat?” It wasn’t even raining! The ground was pretty wet, though, so we played in slow-motion.

After our morning game and songs, we headed back inside for some group time; each group discussed and then ordered their gorp for the week. It was very entertaining to come to a consensus on each gorp ingredient! Then, we got ready to go on our adventure to Sawhill Ponds–every camper got well bundled-up and took their lunches and water bottles.

We rode the bus over to Sawhill Ponds–quite an adventure for some of our younger campers! When we got there, we ate lunch with some of the older kids (MDC’s Eldorado Canyon group was also at Sawhills Ponds today) and then went on a bird-watching hike. Walking on the boardwalk, we saw a red-winged blackbird, a heron, some water bugs, and even a stick bug! We also saw lots of beautiful wildflowers. It was really exciting to see the birds that we had read about earlier!

After some free play, we packed up and headed back to Base Camp for some quiet time. We read “Make Way for Ducklings” and some Dr. Seuss stories, and then split back up into our cabin groups for some more group time. The Thunderbird Kittens mixed their gorp, while the other two groups did some fun teambuilding activities. Then, we came back together in the yard to have the Thunderbird Kitten’s delicious gorp for snack. It was very yummy! We finished off the day with some songs, including “Make New Friends” and the MDC standard, “On Top of Spaghetti.”

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we’ll be heading into Eldorado Canyon for some more bird-watching! Be on the lookout for fun!

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Posted in MDC Junior 2009 | Comments Off

2/23/09 Camp Day

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

We had a fun and rambunctious group of campers for camp on 2/23. We started out the day with camp song requests for our morning songs. With a small group, everyone is able to request a song if they like. After that, we played a few games outside before going indoors to review our Group Code.

We had a snack and planned out what to bring on our hike. This time we returned to Sawhill Ponds to explore more and enjoy the nice warm weather. We looked around lots of trees for owl pellets. We learned the difference between bat boxes and bird boxes that are placed on trees in the wildlife sanctuary. We even learned about seeds and how they travel to help a plant species grow (ask your camper about the seeds we named “porcupine” seeds).

After lunch we played some great rounds of camouflage before heading back to the school for play. During play most campers chose to stay indoors. The older boys worked on creating “flying trash cans” according to some “blueprints” they drew up. Other campers enjoyed drawing and also tumbling on wrestling mats.

Our craft of making recycled vehicles was a huge hit. Some campers made multiple vehicles and then played with them while others worked on their masterful creations.

For end of day songs we got a little silly with some voices, and then we wrapped up with quiet play while parents arrived.

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2/16 Camp Day-Lots of Sun!

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

We had a small group on our camp day yesterday, and the campers and counselors loved it! The campers liked having more individual attention and getting to play (like with legos!) with the counselor a little more than usual.

We started the day with camp songs and the campers all gave their requests. Once we were warmed up, we created our Group Code and got ready for our hike.

We were lucky to have Tim the counselor with us on our hike at Sawhill Ponds. He showed us a tree where he sometimes finds owl pellets and lots of good areas for exploring and finding birds in the preserve. It was nice to have lots of sun and be warmed by it as we hiked and ate our lunches. We also enjoyed seeing lots of planes fly over with gliders attached from the Boulder Airport.

Play was next when we got back to the school and then it was time for art. We made sculptures from recycled items that ranged from a bunny hutch to a 3-story apartment building to a vehicle that travels in outer space. Even the counselors got to create some cool creations from our imaginations.

We wrapped up the day with some quiet play that included lots of legos. It was fun to build a little farm community and all the things that would also be on a farm. We can’t wait for camp next Monday!

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Off to Sawhill Ponds

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Today was an adventure for the Juniors which included hiking, bug catching, and eating lunch under the shade of a tree at Walden Ponds. This morning we played a great game where all the campers run up and down the blacktop like different animals. Counselors discovered how hot it was and how useful the spray bottles are. The spray bottles were also useful at Sawhill ponds. Tim led a long hike on the boardwalk along the wetlands. Tim pointed out a special treat- a Great Blue Heron. Bug catching in the tall grass concluded our field trip to Walden Ponds.

By the time we got back the kids were tired and hot. Story time was well timed and fitting. We read the Lorax and had a short discussion on pollution. Then finished with Where the Wild Things Are, one of my favorite stories because Max uses his imagination. Snack and play topped off the day and the rain storm cooled off the weather nicely. We are looking forward to getting to know your Junior campers even better over the next few days.

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Posted in MDC Junior Boulder Camp Days '08 | Comments Off

Sawhill Ponds & Clean Hands

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

We started out with some more great camp songs during our second day for Session D (Wild Weather). After our morning songs, Cabin Groups got ready quickly for our hike and loaded the bus right away. Everyone was excited to ride the school bus.

We decided to go to Sawhill Ponds for a better view of the weather across the horizon. After a nice shady lunch, we split up into two groups and went for hikes with bug viewers. We saw some cool blue dragon flies and butterflies too.

When we returned, we had quiet time (a statue contest helped them wind down after the bus ride). Then we had a special visitor from Boulder County Public Health with a Handwashing Presentation. The campers had their hands sprinkled with “germ dust” and then looked at them with a black light to see where the dirt was. They then went and washed their hands well-scrubbing all crevices, wrists, and singing the entire ABC’s before stopping. After that, they were able to use a black light again to see how well they did. Even the counselors thought the black light part was pretty cool.

We wrapped up the day with a bit of Play and some delicious Gorp made by the Thunderstorm Team called The Thunderstorm Gorp. Then we had a few more camp songs and it was time to head home.

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