Paleontology Rocks 1 Questions

We are very excited about the upcoming week at camp!  Here are some questions you can ask your campers about after each day's session.

On Monday, we will be learning about dinosaurs.
Ask me the 4 rules for being a dinosaur!
Ask me how big dinosaurs were!

On Tuesday, we will be learning about the time before the dinosaurs.
Ask me about the Paleozoic fossils we saw!
Ask me about our walk through time!

On Wednesday, we will be learning about fossils.
Ask me about fossil track ways!
Ask me about how fossils form!

On Thursday, we will be learning about other prehistoric reptiles.
Ask me about Sanajeh the snake!
Ask me about my fossil art!

On Friday, we will be learning about paleontologists.
Ask me what fossils I found!
Ask me about dinosaur trivia!

Archaeology Week 1 Questions

We're excited to learn about archaeology this week!  You can check this blog to follow camp events, both at the museum and beyond.  Please be sure to check again on Friday for some photos from the week!

Here are some suggested questions for you to ask your camper this week!

On Monday, we will learn about what archaeology is and what an archaeologist does.
Ask me about he atlatl I made!
Ask me about the artifacts I found in an archaic campsite.

On Tuesday, we will be taking a trip to the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology to learn about mummies!
Ask me about our trip!

On Wednesday, we will learn about ancient Egypt.
Ask me about the stele I made!
Ask me about King Tut.

On Thursday, we will be taking a trup to the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology to learn about everyday objects in the ancient world.
Ask me about our trip!

On Friday, we will be learning about ancient art.
Ask me about my ancient art pendant!
Ask me about the difference between petroglyphs and pictographs.

Science Extravaganza 2

This has been another fun and exciting week at Camp Explorations!  For our second week of Science Extravaganza, we explored a different field of science every day!

On Monday, we studied paleontology. Campers learned how fossils are formed through permineralization and made their own trace fossils!  We also pretended to be paleontologists on the field and discovered a new type of prehistoric animal.  Ask your camper what kind they think it was!

Showing off her fabulous fossil!

Drawing themselves as paleontologists!

 Having fun with bubbles!

On Tuesday, we studied physical science and chemistry.  We explored acids and bases with cabbage juice, made our lunch bags explode, and created our own "gluep."  Campers also made their own bubble windows and wands and learned how bubbles are formed.  We added a special ingredient to make our bubbles strong: glycerin!  A mix of Dawn dish detergent and water works well, too!

We got some really big bubbles!

Ask your camper how the different ingredients affected the color of the cabbage juice.

Waiting for the lunch bag to explode...

Wednesday's theme was zoology.  We studied predator-prey relationships of animals and made our own food webs.  Campers were also able to dissect owl pellets and even played a fun version of freeze tag!

The counselors were preying upon our jackrabbit campers!

Discovering what owls eat.

Working out a food web.

The cycle is seed, sapling, mature tree, snag, rotting log.

On Thursday, we walked to the Nichols Arboretum to learn about trees.  Be sure to ask your camper what the different cycles of a tree's life cycle are!














We closed out the week with a day on water.  Campers learned about water pollution and where it gets cleaned and the importance of sharing this precious resource with everyone.  We also discovered that the majority of our planet is made of water through several activities.

Sharing our common water.

The world is largely water!

It's been another successful and fun week at Camp Explorations.  We hope your campers had a great time as well!  See you around the Museum!

CSI: Ann Arbor Week 2

Monday our camp kicked off with observation and evidence.  Our campers tried their hand at handwriting analysis.  We used samples of our own handwriting and then letting other groups try to match our samples.We also got to test our skills as witnesses in our witness experiment.  After making a faces out of magazine cut outs we asked our partners to memorize then rebuild the face after only seeing it for a few seconds.  It's harder than it looks!  We also solved the mystery of "The Poison Pump" using only the clues the detectives had in 1854, during an actual cholera epidemic in London.

Witness experiment!

"Poison Pump"

Tuesday we investigated physical evidence!  We learned about forensic testing through our mystery powders experiment.  We investigated trace evidence as well by examining several soil samples closely and trying to match them with evidence found at the crime scene.  We learned about the importance of small clues with our heat loss experiment.  Campers left their own impressions with our tennis shoe detective experiment.  We got to dust for our own footprints and match up any patterns we saw.

Journaling our findings

Mystery Powders

Wednesday was our trip to the University of Michigan Police Department!  Our campers had a blast touring the station, getting to try on real police gear, learning about evidence collection, and getting to check out some pretty cool police vehicles.  We had fun talking to real police officers about police procedure and meeting real police dispatchers.

Officer Cargill giving us a tour of the station

Trying on the police gear!

Thursday, our theme was forensic anthropology!  We spent most of our morning learning about fingerprints and ridgeology.  We dusted for latent prints and took our own!  We also got to try our forensic anthropology challenge.  We built skeletons blindfolded, guided by a partner of course!

Latent prints!

An excellent specimen

Investigating

Friday we investigated a mock crime scene at the museum!  A murder and a theft needed to be solved and our newly trained techs were the perfect candidates for the job.  Our campers collected and processed evidence from the scene.  Using our techniques from earlier in the week, we correctly identified the culprit!  A fitting end to a super week!

A clue?

Science Extravaganza 2 Questions

We are excited for our second week of Science Extravaganza!  Here are some questions that you may want to ask your kids after camp.

On Monday, we will be studying paleontology.
Ask me how fossils are formed!
Ask me what kind of fossil we found!

On Tuesday, we will be learning about Physical Science.
Ask me about my favorite experiment from the day!
Ask me what we learned about bubbles!

On Wednesday, we will be learning about zoology.
Ask me what we found in the owl pellets!
Ask me about food webs!

On Thursday, we will be going to the Nichols Arboretum.  Please make sure to send your campers with sunscreen, bug spray, a water bottle, and their Camp Explorations shirts.
Ask me about our trip!
Ask me about the tree life cycle!

On Friday, we will be studying water.
Ask me about how much water there is on Earth!
Ask me about sharing water!

CSI: Ann Arbor 2 Questions

We're excited to learn about crime scene investigation this week!  You can check this blog to follow camp events, both at the museum and beyond.  Please be sure to check again on Friday for some photos from the week!

Here are some suggested questions for you to ask your camper this week!

On Monday, we will be learning about observation and evidence.
Ask me about our witness experiment.
Ask me about handwriting analysis.

On Tuesday, we will be learning about physical evidence.
Ask me about our "mystery powders" experiment.
Ask me to show you my own impression evidence (shoe print).

On Wednesday, we will be taking a trip to UMPD!
Ask me about my trip!

On Thursday, we will be learning about forensic anthropology and fingerprints.
Ask me about dusting for latent prints.
Ask me about our bone puzzle challenge.

On Friday, we will be investigating our own mock crime scene!
Ask me about who did it and how I knew!

Science Extravaganza 1

We've had an exciting, albeit short, week here at Camp Explorations!  Our daily themes for Science Extravaganza Week 1 included dinosaurs, astronomy, animals, and geology.

On Monday, we learned about dinosaurs.  Each camper made a model Stegosaurus and learned about one of its predators, Allosaurus, as well as other dino predator-prey relationships.  Campers learned more about individual dinosaurs by playing bingo and making a timeline of some of the dinosaurs that we have here at the museum.

Working diligently on their Stegosaurus models!

Learning about Sanajeh and its prey.

We explored space and astronomy on Tuesday.  Campers busted some common black holes myths.  See if they can help you answer these questions.  They also learned tested out their astronaut skills and discovered how difficult it would be working in space.  Make sure to ask to see your camper's space diorama!

Working on their astronaut skills.

Some of the great space dioramas!

On Wednesday, we walked to Nichols Arboretum!  We had a great time walking around and searching for animals.  Everyone even enjoyed a refreshing popsicle once we got back!

Looking for some animals on our scavenger hunt.

Enjoying some popsicles after our long hike!

On our final day, we learned all about geology.  We had a visit for Western Michigan University's CoreKids program.  They taught us all about different minerals and some cool facts about them!  We also made our own "mineral" mosaics and went on a scavenger hunt for common minerals.  Ask your camper to show you some that you may have at your house!

Our program with CoreKids.

Testing out some minerals.

Checking out some Michigan fossils.

Making mosaic masterpieces!

We had a fantastic week of camp and we hope your camper did, too!  We hope to see you around the museum again!