Monday, July 30, 2012

Science Sampler Adventure 1


We are so excited for our seventh week of camp, and hope you are too! You can use this blog to follow some of the camp happenings going on at the Museum and beyond. Please be sure to check the blog again on Friday to see some pictures from the week!

Here are some suggestions of what to ask your children about at the end of each day!

Monday:
                Ask me about the oobleck we made!
                Ask me about our experiments with bubbles.
Tuesday:
                Ask me about the insect I made.
                Ask me about how bees communicate!
Wednesday:
Ask me about our cell rap!
Ask me about some of the vital signs we checked on ourselves.
Thursday:
                Ask me about how we made clouds in bottles.
                Ask me about the types of clouds we saw outside!
Friday:
                Ask me about the bats we saw!
                Ask me about the “echolocation” game we played!

Ecology Quest 1


We are so excited for our seventh week of camp, and hope you are too! You can use this blog to follow some of the camp happenings going on at the Museum and beyond. Please be sure to check the blog again on Friday to see some pictures from the week!

Here are some suggestions of what to ask your children about at the end of each day!

Monday:
                Ask me about the plant and animal diversity we found on the Diag.
                Ask me about the soil experiment we did.
Tuesday:
                Ask me about the difference between an insect and other animals.
                Ask me how we collected bugs and identified them!
Wednesday:
Ask me about the Climate Change presentation we saw.
Ask me about the food chain project we did.
Thursday:
                Ask me about the plants we saw at the Arboretum.
                Ask me about the sun print pictures we made!
Friday:
                Ask me why nonnative plants can sometimes harm the environment.
                Ask me about the most interesting part of the butterfly garden!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Paleontology Adventure 2

We have had a great week learning all about dinosaurs from dinosaur extremes to dinosaur adaptions.  We even talked about how the dinosaurs became fossils.

Were pterosaurs dinosaurs?


On Monday we talked about dinosaur extremes. We found the biggest, smallest, longest, smartest, and most ferocious (just to name a few) dinosaurs in the museum. We also discussed dinosaur hip structures and learned about the reasons dinosaurs are different from reptiles. Later, we created our own story about what happened to the dinosaurs.



Looking at a sauropod hip.






















Some fossil rubbings


Tuesday, we learned about how fossils form, and we looked at some real fossils in the museum’s hands-on cases! We played a fossil game where we pretended to be animals then drew cards to choose our fate. We learned that animals only sometimes become fossils, and for various reasons such as being eaten by another animal or being washed away by water, many animals do not make it to the fossil stage. Our craft on Friday was fantastic faux fossils. We created 3-D fossils using  various materials to mimic fossilized animals and plants.
 










A stegosaurus displaying his plates.
On Wednesday we discovered the many interesting adaptations that the dinosaurs had. We took a tour of the second floor to view some of the eyes, claws, teeth, spikes, and horns of various dinosaurs. We also had a demonstration on gastroliths (stones swallowed by dinosaurs that helped in the breaking down of their food). There was also a heard of stegosaurs in the museum on Wednesday! We created our own plates and claws using paper products to create a stegosaurus costume.



Look at those claws!


 



 

























Thursday was all about dinosaur tracks. We viewed a set of dinosaur tracks. One of the sauropod tracks stopped and appeared to be surrounded by a group of theropod tracks. In our journals, we recorded what we think happened in the scene. We also used small model dinosaurs and clay to create dinosaur trace fossils.


Looking at the dinosaur tracks left in the Museum!


Making their own dinosaur tracks


How many campers can fit in an Apatosaurus footprint?






The clues to find their own fossil

On Friday, we completed Junior Paleontologist Books for a badge! We also used measurements from various dinosaurs to complete a scavenger hunt and find fossils. At the end of the day, we all took home a cast of an ammonite

Measuring to find their own fossil!


Archaeology Quest 2

We have had tons of fun this week exploring various archaeological topics, from ancient games to interactions between humans and prehistoric animals!



Looking at the stratigraphy of a site.
On Monday, we did two activities to help us understand how Archaeologists date artifacts. We talked about stratigraphy and cross dating, two archaeological methods in which scientists determine how old an object is, using comparisons with other objects found nearby. We also made time capsules, where we had to analyze the characteristics of another person based on some objects they drew that define their lifestyle. 


Drawing items for our time capsules.

Classifying artifacts.

On Tuesday, we took a field trip to the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology and learned about Rome. We saw a presentation about Roman soldiers, where we even got to try on an ancient Roman helmet! We played a game of knucklebones, and then made our very own Roman Shields.  We looked like quite a troop walking back to the Museum of Natural History with our colorful pieces of  “armor“!
Our Roman Shields!


Our knucklebones score board!

On Wednesday, we got to talk to two Archaeologists who work here at the Museum of Anthropology! John showed us some bull skulls and showed us how people used to hunt them by chasing them off cliffs. Lisa showed us some pieces of pottery, and we talked about how they were made and what we can learn about ancient cultures by studying their artifacts. We also looked at “grave goods”, which are items buried with people in their graves. We tried to determine what type of person was buried based on the goods buried with them.
John talking to us about animal bones.

Lisa talking to us about pottery.

Measuring how big the bowl was that this piece of pottery came from.


Looking at grave goods.





















Todd from the Kelsey showing us ancient writing.


On Thursday, we went back to the Kelsey Museum, but this time we talked about writing in the ancient world. We took a tour of the galleries and made cylinder seals and stamps out of clay. We even got a chance to play with some ancient toys and look at Roman code sticks!


Making our cylinder seals.



Making rock art!
We ended the week with some exciting activities about the Ice Age! We learned about human interactions with mammoths and mastodons, and made casts of a Clovis Point, a type of tool used by the Clovis culture to hunt mastodons. We saw some stone tools, including rope axes and a mano and metate, and talked about how civilizations used them.Then we made rock art, mimicking how ancient civilizations made cave paintings!
 









We even got a little messy!

We had so much fun this week and hope your children did too! We look forward to seeing some of you back for Ecology and Science Sampler camp starting  next week!