Camping and Botanical Exploration: Discovering Flora is a summer camp for grades K-8 that features outdoor explorations and scientific investigations across the Garden’s 250-acre landscape. All camps are led by staff educators certified in CPR/first aid to ensure a fun learning experience!
Discovering Australian Flora highlights some of the ANBG’s fascinating plant collections and their fascinating histories.
Campers explore plants
Campers will gain insight into the plants that comprise Belle Isle while also learning their use in art and cooking, using techniques learned from artists like Georgia O’Keeffe and Pablo Picasso to produce paintings, sculptures and prints of their own.
Being outdoors allows children to gain natural doses of Vitamin D, an essential nutrient for bone, muscle and mood health. Studies have revealed that people who spend time in nature report feeling less stressed and happier than those who don’t spend time outdoors.
Students will experience Hildene’s beautiful grounds during an adventure-packed week of discovery, visiting its goat dairy, greenhouse and farm animals. Campers will learn the operations of a working farm while growing vegetables, producing cheese and engaging in other farming activities such as composting and recycling – while at the same time learning to take better care of the land they use.
Campers learn about pollination
Cross-pollination occurs when pollen grains transfer from one flower’s anthers to the stigmas of another flower, marking the initial step in producing seeds, fruits and the next generation of plants. Birds, bats, butterflies, bees, moths, wasps, flies and other insects and animals play an essential role in cross-pollination as do wind and water; homeowners can aid this vital process by cultivating flower gardens with pollinator-friendly plants to support all pollinators’ needs.
Campers at this camp learn all these subjects through hands-on activities and science investigations in the garden, such as tracking animal tracks or exploring off-beaten paths for clues from nature. They gain skills for recognizing animal tracks as well as learning to identify animal tracks by name.
Campers create art
Campers spent week two creating art that highlighted the monarch butterfly’s struggle. Additionally, they created works for Wands for Wildlife–an organization which recycles mascara wands into wildlife care services and raises awareness about plastic pollution in our environment.
After their lunches, campers enjoy relaxing at outdoor picnic tables. One table sees young artists creating masterpieces using paint colors counselors have spread around. At another, campers at one table decorate sticks or wands with stripes of various paint hues counselors have poured onto their tables. Meanwhile, one camper discovers that adding red to orange can produce pink; they eagerly share this news with fellow campers at this same table.
All week, campers create artwork of all sorts: drawing and painting to sculpture and tie-dying. Working across artistic disciplines fosters their creative talent while scholarships ensure participation by children from diverse backgrounds. For more information, click HERE.
Campers have fun
Campers discover their world through art, outdoor exploration and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities that take advantage of the Garden’s 250-acre landscape.
Plants serve a multitude of functions – from providing sustenance to beautifying our world. This week, campers explore various creative projects with plants – such as making natural dyes from plant material, designing Japanese-inspired flower arrangements and even planting mini Japanese gardens!
Campers enjoy themselves while expanding their understanding of Hildene’s ecosystems through field studies, hikes and games. Campers gain an in-depth knowledge of how forests, wetlands and farms maintain balance – and learn what steps we all can take to keep it that way!https://www.youtube.com/embed/2u_xunMOVYE