For the second year in a row, the Logan County Land Trust (LCLT) along with fourth-grade Benjamin Logan science teacher Bruce Smith created a week-long outdoor experience for young students to learn about the world beyond a screen.
They call it Enviro Camp, and it took place for five days, from Aug. 5 to 9, at the Kirkmont Center in Zanesfield.
This week they had 20 fourth- through sixth-graders participate, an increase from last year’s 15. But, according to LCLT mapmaker and camp educator Catherine Carter, they would like to expand it in the years to come.
“It’s so much deeper than classroom learning,” Carter said. “They get to experience nature with their senses.”
The day camp started at 8:30 a.m. with environmental-focused activities. Students learned the art of observation through watercolor painting. They held birds in their hands as they heard about basic ornithology. They explored the stream through a ravine with a geologist.
And they waded into a pond with a naturalist, gaining an understanding of the importance plants like milkweed play as part of the ecosystem.
“Enviro Camp gives students an opportunity to get outside. It’s a place where they can play in the woods or a pond, which is especially important when they don’t have those opportunities at home,” Carter concluded.
After the educational part of the day, the Kirkmont Center took over, providing lunch, then sending the kids out for an afternoon of camp activities like wall climbing, canoeing, fishing, archery and swimming in the pool.