Our regular readers may have noticed that we’re posting a little less frequently than usual this summer. In addition to having our children home from school, our environmental outreach activities have been keeping us pretty busy recently.
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| Nature themed coloring project. |
Our regional Boy Scout Council held Cub Scout Day Camp at the base of “Windy” the municipal wind turbine in our city for the first time this summer. This location was a particularly good choice because their theme this summer is “Day Camp Goes Green.” Realizing that the wind turbine could serve as a great educational focal point around energy and conservation, the Boy Scouts approached me for information and suggestions about how to tie Windy into their programming.
I met with the Director of the camp to get a better understanding of the camp activities and ages of the children. I suggested a craft for the boys to make their own wind turbine models out of simple materials including a half-gallon milk or juice container, popsicle sticks and index cards. Then we discussed putting together a simple presentation explaining electricity, pollution, clean energy and how the wind turbine makes clean electricity.
When I went to talk to the boys they split them into two groups, K-2nd grade and 3-5th grade, with almost 50 boys in each group. I really enjoyed the opportunity to explain about renewable energy and electricity to children because it is challenging to explain these issues to children in a way that is both accurate, yet understandable for them.
The Cub Scouts were very interested in the turbine, making guesses at how many houses she can power (answer: 16) and contributing to their peer’s education with information they had about electric cars. The Cub Scouts learned about why the wind turbine was built, what some of the concerns were and why it is important to make clean electricity. Afterward we went out to touch the turbine and check out how noisy (or not) it is for themselves.
In addition to having a speaker and activities about the wind turbine, this year the camp Dens had names like “The Recyclers”, “The Composters” and “The Solar Powers.” The activities included learning to fish and doing a variety of crafts from recycled items. The boys had a great time, my son included, and I hope the camp comes back to our city again next year!
It’s really great to see mainstream organizations picking up the green banner and I applaud the Boy Scouts on their choice of theme and location!
Happy Greening!
Alicia
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