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This week we had a chance to conduct some outreach for area youth at the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians‘ “Kids In The Creek” Earth Day event. As with previous years, Tribes from throughout Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma counties were on hand to help educate the youth — and have a little fun at the same time. The wide range of activities included games, art projects and even a visit to the creek for hands-on lessons.
For our booth we offered up two activities. The first was an art project that helped to familiarize students with animals you may find in a creek’s riparian zone. We created a “tunnel book,” (slide 6) which included four layers of the riparian zone for the attendants to decorate with animals like steelhead, gopher snakes, foothill yellow-legged frogs and more. The tunnel books were a success, and we’ll bring you a more detailed post about how-to make your own using our designs.
The second part of our activity included a card game. You could play it two ways: matching style or Go Fish style. The cards all featured the same animals we focused on for the tunnel books. As each of the kids played the game they learned more about the animals and their functions within the ecosystem of the creek. Each card included interesting facts about the animals so the game was equally educational and fun (slide 8). We’ll also feature a separate post here with copies of the Go Fish cards that you can print for your own classroom, program etc.
Thanks again to the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians for inviting us, and we look forward to participating again next year. Look for posts with activity breakdowns and printables later in the week.
