Days 3 and 4 of Camp

Grace checks out "Cecil"


Look at this egg I found!

Grace works on her turtle shell


Looking for bugs

Grace and her teacher look for birds


Days 3 and 4 were devoted to discussing reptiles and mammals. Of the two, I definitely prefer mammals but don't mind handling a turtle--it's the snakes and others that skeeve me out. The reptile day did not get off to a great start. The Center has a giant tank of cockroaches that Grace loves to examine. I don't like cockroaches--really, who does? And there's a lot of them--maybe 3 dozen in the tank. Our teacher saw Grace interested and offered to take one out for a closer look. Every bone in my body screamed "NO!" but I don't want to discourage Grace's interest so I less than enthusiastically replied, "sure. . . ." Did you know cockroaches hiss? They do. And it hissed at me. I took a giant step backward but Grace was still looking so I tried to remain brave. But then the damn thing leaped at me and it was all over. I screamed pretty loud which scared the hell out of Grace and anyone standing nearby. The teacher remarked she had never seen one do that before. Um hmm. . . .very comforting.

We got to meet Cecil the giant tortoise who was a huge hit with the kids. Grace loved to look at her and stroke her back. She did a great job listening and respecting big ole Cecil's space. Other kids were pretty rough wih poor Cecil but not Grace. I was really proud how well she did listening. We also got to see a little Boa which was pretty neat and Grace liked to pet it. Our craft for the day was making a turtle shell out of brown bags and she wore it all day long. Grace learned a new word--"turtle"- and repeated it all day long.

The next day we got to meet the mammals. Grace was very excited to meet the bunnies and kept yelling "hop!" while jumping. We also got to meet the chinchilla who was really beautiful. Our teacher explained that they are an endangered species in South America because of the demand for the fur. It takes 100 of these adorable chinchillas to make a fur coat. The parents nodded silently and I explained to Grace how important it is to be nice to animals like that. But then I heard a grandmom sitting behind me remark, "But they do make lovely coats." I shot her a look of horror and she shut up.

Camp was a great experience for both of us and I wish they had another session because I'd be first in line to sign up. I loved being able to help Grace learn more abot nature and I learned an awful lot too.