Kids Day in the Watershed!

On July 17th, 10 kids, along with myself and Jillian who work with TREC, gathered at the Trout River Community Park for Kids Day in the Watershed.  Since this was the first event of its kind, I was apprehensive but really excited about the possibilities.  It turned out that my apprehension was for nothing because it was a fantastic time!
We started by sitting on the look-out and talking a bit about the anoxia in the river.  It is really at its peak this time of year and although we had been hoping to check out some fish during the day, we discussed why that wouldn't be possible and the causes.  The kids were really quick to understand and really interested in solutions.
Then, as an intro to the park (although the kids knew the ins and outs better than I did!) we did some geocaching.  There were nine caches throughout the park and using a GPS, the kids found each and every one! (Well, except the one that the crows ate, and the one that the tide took away!)  Each cache was another element to their trail mix snack, which they hoed into after geocaching was over.  I overheard one kid say, "Trail mix is a snack of the gods."  Who knew!!

One of the teams looking for a scavenger hunt item.

Anyway, after snack, we had an intense nature based scavenger hunt in which they were divided into two teams and whoever completed the list first, got first pick of the prize bag.  It was VERY close, but the winners came through when they found a squirrel tail, which appeared to be the highlight of the entire day for some kids. haha.

Finally, we made a bird feeder with pine cones, peanut butter and bird seed.  It was messy and really made for winter birds, but after seeing how the crows demolished one of my caches, I'm pretty sure some feathered friend will thoroughly enjoy them!

Overall, the day was a great success, and I think it bodes well for the future of another kids day in the watershed!

-Sally