Posts Tagged With: animals

Craft Day- Clay Butterflies!

Posted on June 21, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Craft Day- Clay Butterflies!

We’re in the craft cabin today and we’re making clay butterflies! Does everyone have a seat and their supplies?

Materials:

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  • Scissors
  • Butterfly pattern
  • Exacto knife
  • Oven baked clay in multiple colors
  • Parchment paper
  • Rolling pin

 

Instructions:

  • Cut out patterns.

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  • Warm up the clay with your hands or hooves.

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  • Roll out your clay with the rolling pin on parchment paper.

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  • Place your butterfly on the clay and cut around it. Be careful with the exacto- ask an adult for help if you need too.

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  • Use the other clay colors to decorate your butterfly. Make sure you press these into your butterfly or they can fall off.

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  • If you are going to hang your butterfly, use a chopstick to poke a small hole.

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  • Bake your butterflies at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.

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  • Add magnets or string to your butterflies so they can fly all over!

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As always- show us your work campers! Post to Instagram and tag us! Post to our Facebook wall or tweet us! Woohoo!

 

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Categories: adventure, Animals, butterflies, camp, Children, conservation, crafts, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Butterflies!

Posted on June 20, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Butterflies!

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Today we’re learning about butterflies in camp! We have some fun facts and a great poem written by Edmond! Butterflies are his favorite! It is a myth that they were originally called fluttebys, but it still makes us giggle.

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  • Butterflies are insects.
  • They have six legs, two antenna and a segmented body.
  • They have 4 wings. Those wings are covered in tiny scales.
  • Butterflies have a 4 stage life cycle; egg, larva (caterpillars), pupa (chrysalis) and adult.
  • Female butterflies lay their eggs on plants.
  • Most caterpillars are herbivores, where as their adult form the butterfly is a nectar eater.
  • There are around 20,000 species of butterflies.
  • Butterflies are found on all continents except Antarctica.

 

 

Oh Butterfly- by Edmond Horse

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby

You are a gorgeous bug!

Oh Butterfly, Flufferby

You start in a cocoon so snug.

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

How I love your colors so.

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

We love to watch you grow.

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

You have the most delicate wings.

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

You make me want to sing.

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

It’s time for you to pollinate.

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

You are top rate!

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

You taste with your feet!

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

That is just so neat!

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

You are most special.

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

You stop by each and every blossom.

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

I could watch you all day.

Oh Butterfly, Flutterby,

My love for you will never stray!

 

Categories: adventure, Animals, butterflies, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, poetry, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bat Mask!

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Bat Mask!

We have come up with a bat mask design for our campers for craft day! Now if we could all make wings to help us fly! Hahahahaha! 

Materials:

  • Pattern for mask
  • Brown or black felt 
  • Hot glue or felt glue
  • Hole punch
  • Scissors
  • String or ribbon (For both)

 

Instructions :

1.     Print out Pattern and trace it on the felt.

 

 

 

 

 

2.     Cut out the mask. When done, cut out eye holes by folding bat wing in half & cutting an oval.

 

 

 

 

 

3.     Decorate your mask with glitter, etc… if you want to dress it up!

4.     Punch holes in the sides of mask. Tie or glue ribbon to the holes.

 

 

 

 

 

5.     Wear your mask!

As usual campers! Show us your masks! We want to see your crafts! 

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, crafts, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hello Crayfish!

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Hello Crayfish!

It’s almost the end of cave week here at Camp E&E! We met one really cute little critter in the caves on our way out.

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Southern Cave Crayfish Fun Facts:

  • These little crayfish spend their entire lives in caves.
  • Cave crayfish lack sight! They use touch and smell to get around.
  • Most cave crayfish are translucent.
  • Females are larger than men.
  • They are one of the largest animals in the cave ecosystem. Due to a lack of food, animals evolve to be smaller in these dark habitats.
  • The cave ecosystem can be low in oxygen.
  • Southern cave crayfish can live up to 15-20 years.
  • They eat insects and blind cave fish!

These crazy crayfish are so cool! They are slow to grow and live  long life due to the lack of resources in the cave system. These caves are not for the weak!

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Blind in the Cave

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Blind in the Cave

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We are enjoying spelunking with the campers this week! Deep in the cave there is a lake, it is part of the same system of water that makes up Lake Salamander! It is in the cave lake we can find some of the most interesting and alien like animals on the earth! Make sure you have on your head lamps campers!

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Blind Cave Fish Fun Facts:

  • These little fish only get up to 4 1/2 inches long.
  • Blind cave fish have lost their ability to see and some of have even lost their eyeballs. Crazy right!?
  • They use their lateral lines along their bodies to get around. Those lateral lines detect different kinds of pressure.
  • They eat bat droppings.
  • Scientists think the fish lost their eyesight to reduce energy use!

 

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These little fish were such a fun find! Woohoo! Camp is just the best!

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, fish, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bat Fun Facts

Posted on June 13, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Bat Fun Facts

We love our bat friends! They come out every night by camp searching for mosquitoes.   Brown bats are the ones we see the most at camp! They live just inside the caves on the other side of the lake. These little buddies can eat up to 1000 mosquitoes an hour! Yay! Let’s learn more about bats!

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  • Bats are the only true flying mammal on earth!
  • There are around 1,200 different species.
  • Bats have specialized wings that help them fly- bat wings have five appendages- including a thumb on top to help them climbs.
  • Bat wings are covered in a thin membrane called the patagium.
  • Scientists believe that bats evolved around 100 million years ago.

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  • Bats are nocturnal.
  • Bats use echolocation to detect prey, especially flying insects.
  • Most bats are very social and live in large groups.
  • Some bats do sleep upside down.
  • When a bat’s feet are gripped around a branch upside down they are in a relaxed position. When humans make a fist, their muscles are rigid. That is the opposite with bat feet! Pretty neat huh? 

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These beneficial little critters don’t spend all of their lives in caves, they must come out to find food every night! We just love them!!

 

Categories: adventure, Animals, bats, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, mammals, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Caves at Lake Salamander

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

The Caves at Lake Salamander

We’re spending this week at camp learning more about the caves just on the other side of the Lake. There are many stories of the ghosts that inhabitant the local caves, but we know they are just the home to some super amazing animals! We are so excited to go exploring and learn more about the caves.

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Cave Basics:

  • Caves are underground caverns created by the weathering of rock by water.
  • Water containing chemicals erodes at limestone and other kinds of rock to form the large caverns.
  • Some caves are formed by lava and some are formed by the sea near cliffs.
  • Stalactites are mineral deposits on the ceilings of the cave. You can remember them by saying stalactites hold tight to the ceiling.
  • Stalagmites are formed by the same mineral deposits form pillars on the ground. You can remember them by saying stalagmites push up with all their might.
  • Stalactites and stalagmites grow around an inch every 100 years.
  • Troglobites are animals that live in caves and never leave their cave home.

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Caves are so neat! Do you know people who explore caves are called spelunkers? Hehehe! That is an excellent name!

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Dam at Lake Salamander

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

The Dam at Lake Salamander

We went canoeing on the lake today! It is so peaceful and we always stop to meet the turtles, the birds and the fish. We decided to canoe all the way to the other side of the lake to see the dam. We aren’t talking about a man made dam! We went to see the giant one made by Lake Salamander’s very own beaver family! And man is it a beauty!

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Beaver Fun Facts:

  • Beavers are rodents and large ones, they can get up to 45 bs.
  • These big herbivores love to eat plants, twigs, bark and leaves.
  • Beavers are built for the water! They have webbed back feet and large flat tails they use as rudders.
  • Beavers have a  clear nictitating membrane that covers their eye and let’s them see underwater! And they can stay underwater for up to 15 minutes!
  • Beavers are very beneficial. Their dams and lodges create watery habitats that other animals use! They benefit salmon, birds and an area’s biodiversity!
  • Their dams can even help drought stricken areas.
  • Beavers are able to change a habitat more than any other animal, beside humans!
  • There are an estimated 10 to 15 million beavers in the U.S. now, but at one point there were thought to be 200 million.

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We loved stopping by the beaver lodge! There is a lovely family inside! The birds who live near by love it too! They said it’s the fanciest house in the neighborhood! Hahaha!

Today is World Ocean’s Day! All water makes it was to the ocean eventually! We are all connected to the oceans of the worlds! Let’s spend our afternoon coloring the sheet to celebrate! Just save, print & color.

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Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Taking Flight at Camp

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Taking Flight at Camp!

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We are ready to meet our first animal who lives at Camp E&E! This little creature comes out at night, so we were thrilled to spot some after the welcome bonfire! With our bellies full of marshmallows and chocolate we head out to meet the flying squirrels that call the Salamander Woods home.

 

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Flying Squirrel Fun Facts:

  • Flying squirrels are small critters- only reaching about a foot in length.
  • Flying squirrels are nocturnal.
  • They do not actually fly- they glide. (Can you name the only flying mammal?)
  • They have a large flap of skip from their wrists to their ankles that acts like a parachute allowing them to glide from branch to branch!
  • Flying squirrels are such excellent flyers they can change direction mid-flight.
  • They have flat tails that they use a rudder.
  • Flying squirrels love to nibble on berries, bark, snails and nuts. They collect nuts for the winter months.
  • They live in groups in holes of trees.

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These little rodents are just so stinking cute! Meeting them on the first night of camp was super special. Many of our campers stayed up in the wee hours talking about these amazing creatures. Who can blame them? Camp is so exciting!

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Camp 2017

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Ellie and Edmond ©

Camp 2017

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Welcome to Camp E&E 2017! We are so excited for all new summer adventures this year! We are spending our first month of camp at Lake Salamander in the Salamander woods. In July we will head to the beach for beach camp! Woohoo! So get your trunk packed for the summer and let’s get ready for another fantastic summer!

 

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Things You’ll Need:

  • Sleeping bag
  • Bug spray
  • Hiking shoes
  • Binoculars
  • Rain gear
  • Backpacks
  • Swim gear
  • Camera
  • Nature notebooks & pencils
  • Sunscreen
  • Flashlights
  • Water shoes

 

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Let’s all sing the Camp song together to get the season started!

On the shores of Lake Salamander, among the old live oak…

We enjoy Camp Ellie and Edmond and the frogs that croak.

We salute you Camp E & E and all your animal friends…

All our days are each a gem.

While we sit next to the campfire, telling stories of old…

We laugh and sing and watch the stars of gold.

We love you Camp E &E and all our memories of our days…

We hold Camp E & E close to our hearts and we’ll never stray!

 

Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, Today's Post, wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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