The pile o' weeds we took out at ZooMontana
This four day project was all about nature, conservation and the environment. Each day of the project we explored a new agency and helped in a different way. Things kicked off at the Montana Audubon Education Center where we planted shrubs, went on canoe rides catching turtles, and learned a fun interactive game about animal habitat, which we would teach later in the week. The next day we visited Meadowlark School and spent the day educating kids attending the afterschool C.A.R.E. Academy program. We spent the morning building solar cookers and then cooked cheese quesadillas to teach them about energy. Later we taught them about habitat using the game we learned at Montana Audubon. It reinforced the four elements of habitat, water, food, shelter and space. On Wednesday we all headed to ZooMontana where we spent the morning beautifying the land, both inside and out of the animal enclosures. We took a stroll around the Zoo to visit all of the animals and even found a peacock feather or two to keep as souvenirs. Finally we learned about animal population control and received a dart gun demonstration. Shooting nearby targets, we got a close look at how they deliver the treatment that prevents fertility. Finally on the last day of the project we visited the C.A.R.E. program at Big Sky Elementary and stepped up our solar cooking skills to include making S’mores and hotdogs. One of our cookers reached 185 degrees! Overall the four days were full of enrichment and fun and it was a great way to spend a summer week.
Placing a shrub
Planting at Montana Audubon
Solar chefs
Crafts with kids from C.A.R.E
Foursquare!
Dart gun demo
