Summer

The Nature Museum will be hopping with lots of fun programming for children throughout the upcoming 2008 summer season. Here are the details of those events! Be sure to sign up early to secure your spots!

Junior Naturalist Programs - Ages 6-8

Habitats Big and Small
Date: July 7 - 11
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Place: Meet at The Nature Museum
Cost: Members $75; Non-members $90

Reptiles and Amphibians
Date: July 14 - 18
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Place: Meet at The Nature Museum
Cost: Members $75; Non-members $90

Investigate the natural world and become a Nature Museum Junior Naturalist! These two weeks are filled with all new activities that entice us to become more active participants in the natural world. Do hands-on explorations, play games, create nature crafts, and have fun romping through the outdoors as part of this camp. You are welcome to attend one or both weeks.

Whooo's Out at Night?
- Session One: Ages 4-5
Date: July 21 - 25
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Place: Meet at The Nature Museum
Cost: Members $75; Non-Members $90

- Session Two: Ages 3-5
Date: July 28 - 30
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Place: Meet at The Nature Museum
Cost: Members $50; Non-Members $60

A summer camp designed especially for the preschool age! Join us as we learn about the special nighttime world and the animals who are awake at night. We’ll play games, do hands-on activities, sing songs, create crafts, and explore the Museum’s gardens, meadows, woodlands and collections. This camp is a great introduction to the natural world and to camps in general for our youngest museum friends. Caregivers are welcome to join us, but are not required to attend.

Astronomy Camp - Ages 9-11
Date: August 4 - 8, & night of the 8th
Time: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Place: Meet at The Nature Museum
Cost: Members $160; Non-Members $185

Join a Nature Museum naturalist for some wild and crazy exploration projects focused on planets, moons and stars. The mornings will be spent creating models, assembling a small telescope, making star charts and more. The afternoons will be spent playing in the woods, fields and stream. The week will end with a Friday night family star party where we will view the plants, moon and stars with several amateur astronomers using their telescopes.

Daring Camp for Girls - Ages 9-12
Date: August 18 - 22
Time: 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM: overnight on Thursday, pick up at noon on Friday
Place: The Great River Arts Institute (33 Bridge St, Bellows Falls) & The Nature Museum
Cost: Members $225; Non-Members $250

Join the Nature Museum and Great River Arts for an adventure filled week for girls 9-11. The Daring Camp for Girls is loosely based on the book “The Daring Book for Girls” by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz which has been described as “the can-do, how-to manual for enthusiastic, unfettered adventure.” The camp will be led by Betsy Stacey, the curator and naturalist educator for the Nature Museum and Charlene Peavey, a photographer and afterschool instructor for Great River Arts. Our days will be filled with joyful exploration of the world of art and nature.

Last Blast: Treasures in the Forest
Date: Tuesday, August 18
Time: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Place: Meet at The Nature Museum
Cost: Members $30; Non-Members $35

Come explore the Village Park through a treasure hunt. Along the way collect treasures to use on the afternoon crafts. We’ll eat lunch by the brook and of course, get wet to cool off.

Last Blast: Water Bioblitz
Date: Wednesday, August 19
Time: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Place: Meet at The Nature Museum
Cost: Members $30; Non-Members $35

Come explore our local pond to see how many different creatures we can find. Sketching our favorite three, we’ll return to the museum to create one or more for our Pond Diorama; eat lunch by the brook and get wet to cool off.