What's an Amphibian?

"SHRIEK!"

~ Wildlife Camper upon putting her hand into a mystery box of ersatz frog eggs*

It was the last amphibian class/watch for this summer. By the time we've done four of them, the last two are easy. The timing was locked-in. Slides were added and others deleted. The presentation was re-ordered and mystery boxes prepared. The dollar store was emptied of pocket-sized notebooks.

And these final classes were as much fun as we could have hoped. The campers bravely reached into the boxes to determine exactly what amphibians swam in the depths (salamanders, frog eggs, frogs, and tadpoles). They made observations, took notes, worked in teams, and reported out their findings.

Of course we talked about leaving no trace. They knew about picking up after themselves (and their dogs!) and knew why we should all walk on the trails.** They knew about being careful with fire and bringing the correct gear.

And they impersonated (imfrogated?) cricket frogs and chorus frogs - performing loud choruses as we completed this part of their camp. Many had remembered my friend A.J.'s class on dabbling and diving ducks *** and being "citizen scientists." From what we experienced today we can tell that many are well on their way.

They listened and laughed and learned and thanked us when we finished. [I got a hug too!]

"Girl Power" - It's hard to document the campers without faces so we took a little power photo. It just happened that they were all girls.

Taking notes about our observations.

I was surprised at how many notes this group was taking.

"Frog, Lisarb"

This camper wanted to look at the slides again to get the "spelling right." Wow!

Helpers and counselors kept the campers "on time and on task." It couldn't be done without them.

What's in this box?

NOTES:

*I may not want to see tapioca for a good long while.

** "You can get hurt or you can damage the wildlife," one young man shared. One girl even said, "You can get a tick!" I had to confess that I did indeed "get a tick" in Ohio when I broke that rule and stepped off the trail for a photograph of a flower.

*** Say that 5 times fast...