Friday 1/1
Happy New Year!
⬅ Click here to return to the Winter Camp portal
| Day | Schedule |
|---|---|
| Friday 1/1/2021 |
Celebration! Meet Trill, the Western Screech Owl Make a desert tortoise sun catcher Have a costume dance party! Click on follow-up DIY activities below: Print Friday's activities |
Ways to be a Wildlife Hero
You can open and print the Ways to be a Wildlife Hero idea bubbles that appeared throughout camp by clicking below!
You are invited to participate in the
Cleanup Challenge!
Every year on the International Coastal Cleanup Day in September, people all over the world team up to clean up trash from beaches. In 2018, more than ONE MILLION people volunteered and collected over 23 million pounds of trash across 22,300 miles of beaches, coastlines and waterways in 122 countries in a single day! That's 97,457,000 individual pieces of trash!
Every single person who helped to clean up the beaches made a positive impact on the environment and helped wildlife. The hard work of all the volunteers added up to make an even bigger positive impact, showing that every little bit of help counts!
We don't have to wait for the next International Coastal Cleanup Day to get started cleaning up our environment. Every piece of trash we pick up in nature and throw away is one less piece of trash that could harm a wild animal.
We can have a positive impact to help wildlife survive and thrive in their habitats, everyday.
We can start today!
Here's what you will need:
✅ An adult,
✅ A pair of gloves,
✅ A bag to put trash in.
Begin your Cleanup on your next adventure outdoors, whether it is around your neighborhood, in a park, in your yard, or somewhere in nature. Put on a pair of gloves, get a trash bag ready, and with an adult begin your search for litter. Look for tiny trash, plastic trash, paper trash, and collect it in your trash bag.
Caution: Be safe and do not pick up any trash that looks SHARP, RUSTY, HEAVY, OR ICKY GOOEY DISGUSTING. Do not pick up a bag of doggie doo doo either! Tell an adult where you see any of these off-limits trash items.
Keep track of how many individual pieces of trash you pick up. Challenge yourself and your adult to pick up 10 pieces of trash. If that was hard to do, you might be in an environment that is pretty clean! If it was super easy to find 10, then increase your goal to 20.
Take a picture of the trash you collected! Share a photo of your total haul or any particularly interesting trash with your class. (Did it wash up on the beach after floating in the ocean for 60 years? Is it obviously from a UFO?)
At the end of your Cleanup adventure, throw away your collected trash in the proper bin. If you were wearing disposable gloves, throw those out too. If you were wearing reusable gloves like garden gloves, put them in the laundry basket to be washed. Finally, wash your hands, and feel proud for having made a positive impact on your environment!
How might your positive impact grow and multiply if you did the Cleanup Challenge a second time this week? What if you did it every time you go out into nature? What if you asked friends or family to try the challenge?
Click here for ideas from Kids National Geographic on how to organize a Cleanup Day in your neighborhood!
Scroll down for more activities
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Meet Trill, our Wildlife Ambassador
Western Screech Owl
Trill may be tiny, but she is a full grown adult Western Screech Owl! Watch the video and learn about her incredible senses and animal super powers.
If you were an owl, what senses would you use to find food, stay safe, and move around in the night?
Video clip is 3 minutes long.
Did you catch the part where Melissa said owls have one ear up high and one ear down low? This special adaptation helps them hear exactly where a sound is coming from, so they can swoop down on a mouse for lunch, even in the middle of the night!
Western Screen Owls have three features that make them part of a special group of birds called raptors. They have powerful eyesight, a sharp hooked beak, and strong talons for gripping prey.
Although Western Screech Owls are predators and eat other smaller animals like mice, they are also prey to other bigger animals like hawks. Their brown feathers act as camouflage and keep them safe from predators during the day when they are sleeping on a branch or in a hole in a tree.
Take a look at how small and fluffy these baby Western Screech Owls are! They were brought to WildCare's Wildlife Hospital when their nest fell out of a tree. These babies will grow up at WildCare until they are old enough to be released.
Video clip is 1 minute long.
Listen to the sounds Western Screech Owls make in the video below. You may be surprised to learn they don't actually screech!
Now try making the sound of a Western Screech Owl!
Sound plays for 30 seconds.
Card-io Workout!
Most birds are very active as they are always on the move to find their next meal, raise young, and avoid predators. Try this workout with a deck of cards to be active like a bird! Make each suit represent a workout move of your choice. The number on the card equals the number of repetitions. Pull a card and get moving!
Example:
♥ Hearts = jumping jacks
♠ Spade = squats
♦ Diamond = lunges
♣ Clubs = sit-ups
Scroll down for more activities
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Animal Jokes and Puzzles
Here are a few more cheesy animal jokes that might make you and your family laugh, 😂 or just roll their eyes! 🙄
How do you count cows?
With a cowculator!
What do you call a fish without an eye?
Fsh!
What do you call an alligator who solves mysteries?
An investigator!
Why do crabs never share?
Because they’re shellfish.
What do you call a bird in the winter?
Brrrr-d!
Where do fish keep their money?
In a river bank!
What did the Turkey Vulture bring on the airplane?
Just a carrion.
...get it?! 😆
Bird Breakfast Buffet: Scrambled Words
What might these birds eat for breakfast?
Unscramble the words to find out.
I’m a hummingbird, and I’d love some... CRANET
I’m a finch, and I’d love some... URDSTAM DESSE
I’m a pelican, and I’d love to eat some... HSFI
I’m a peregrine, and I’d love to eat a... NOPGIE
I’m a turkey vulture and I eat... EDDA ISGHTN
I’m an oriole, and I love to eat... TRIFU
I’m a chicken, and I’d love to eat a... PTENIECED
I’m a duck, and I love to eat... DNOP EDEW
I’m a kestrel, and I’d love a... TICKECR
I’m a scrub jay, and I’d love to eat... SCRONA
I’m a gull, and I’d love to eat... CRALBESNA
I’m an owl, and I’d love a... ATR RO SEMOU
Yum. That was good!
Questions and Answers
Find answers to your questions about Winter Camp below, or send us an email
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How does my camper join the Zoom meeting?
Click on the Zoom link sent to your email with your registration confirmation. You will be prompted to either download the Zoom app and join from there, or you can choose to join from your web browser without creating an account. The password is embedded in the link; do not share the link with anyone outside of camp!
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Will my camper get to talk and ask questions?
Yes! Campers will have plenty of time to ask questions, share stories, and interact with other campers and our wildlife educators over Zoom. Sometimes campers will be automatically muted while our wildlife educators are presenting.
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Will there be any live animals?
Yes! Campers will get to ask questions and interact with our wildlife educators as they introduce a different non-releasable Wildlife Ambassador animal each day of camp.
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What does my camper need to bring each day?
Pick up a complimentary packet of printed materials from WildCare before the week of camp, or download and print the craft activity for each day. Please have your camper join the Zoom meeting ready with the printed activity for the day, scissors, and coloring supplies.
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When can I pick up my packet of printed craft materials from WildCare?
Please pick up ahead of time 7 days a week 9am-5pm from December 9th to December 23rd. Come to our front gate and push the Ring button to be assisted. Let the staff member who greets you know that you are here to pick up your Winter Camp packet, and they will bring it to you.
WildCare's address is:
76 Albert Park Lane, San Rafael, CA 94901.