Near 50 enthusiastic children ranging in age from 6 to ten attended San Saba’s 8th Annual Kids’ Nature Kamp May 31 through June 2, held in the beautiful San Saba City Parks areas. Kampers enjoyed numerous outdoor learning activities in Mill Pond Park and the San Saba Nature Park. Kampers began the first two days in the historic San Saba Garden Club building where they met their group leaders, Raylee Wood and Ami Whitley, Jazmin Gutierrez and Anna Burgess, Virginia Gonzales and Maela Edmonson, Mary Joy May and Mary Margaret Moorehead, and Kathleen Hawkins and Cissy Williams. Kids received colorful backpacks donated by San Saba’s Texas Farm Bureau to hold their recyclable water bottles and nature journals for the day’s fun-filled trek. Paula Wood, Kamp Director, gave an overview of the activities, instructions, and schedule on opening day before kids headed out into our local parks. Assisting were Mayce McDowell, Gage Faulkner, Karen Gill, and Valeria Macias.
Presenters of Nature Lessons Wednesday in the Mill Pond Park were: 1) Aileen Roberts and Cindy Sloan who gave a presentation on San Saba County Native American art at the Joe Ragsdale Pavilion, then led the kampers in a fun craft of pounding nature designs into wooden disks, then stringing them for hanging. Assisting them was Noelle Wood.
2) Stephanie Falkner, assisted by Marcie Butler, Jessica Fuller, and Lucia Cervantes, led the groups in filling gourds with dirt, then adding grass seed to make a gourd head man complete with google eyes and name tag sticks.
3) Mason Murr, local game warden, assisted by field game wardens, John Compton and Ray Milloway, provided fishing poles and bait while informing kids of fishing laws in Mill Pond and the state of Texas. They were joined by Jackson Thornton, Mike Moorehead, Sarah Saldivar, and the San Saba City Parks department in getting the kampers’ hooks in the pond water to catch some big fish!
4) Lisa Sloan and Elizabeth McBee, assisted by Valeria Macias and Carol Gibson, joined kids in the Mill Creek below the historic Garden Club clubhouse, searching for critters while looking through clear bottom buckets, then seining their finds to identify them back on shore.
Many exciting, and sometimes, creepy creatures, were found!
5) Snack time was for learning as well, where Debbie Shahan assisted by Mona McMahan, taught a lesson on Bugs, Spiders, and other crawling critters. Kids designed their favorite bug on cookies with edible ink markers, and then devoured them with a cup of ice cream.
Thursday, June 1st found Kampers back at Mill Pond Park ready to visit nature stations that included: 1) A learning to eat yummy vegetables lesson called “Plate It” led by McKinley Armstrong and assisted by Charlotte Spence and Noelle Wood. Their set-up near the falls was just right for painting cute veggies on rocks to remind them of the special lesson. Each kamper received a booklet outlining nutritional foods to eat each day.
2) Lisa Foil and Cindy Sloan, assisted by Macy McDowell, taught a bit of geography of Texas along with a study of bats at the Gazebo. Kampers enjoyed a fun bat craft as well.
3) Refreshments at the clubhouse on Thursday came after reading “All the Way to the Ocean,” a book about keeping our rain drains clear of toxins and clutter that can harm sea life. Kampers enjoyed popcorn and blue Jell-O ocean snacks complete with gummy fish creatures.
4) The Joe Ragsdale Pavilion was a fun place where presenters, Carol Gibson, assisted by Mike Moorehead, taught the kids about “sightings” of wildlife without even seeing them, using their sense of smell, touch, hearing and identifying animals through what they left behind like tracks, poop, fur, sheds, and such.
5) Sarah Saldivar, Marcie Butler, Lucia Cervantes, assisted by Jackson Thornton taught a Recycles lesson at the park gazebo, with kids learning items we normally could throw away, but can be recycled for another use! The lesson was complete with RECYCLE BINGO!
The culmination of Kids’ Nature Kamp came on Friday when kids trekked through the San Saba Nature Park. Kamp presenters were: 1) Lisa Foil and Cindy Sloan, assisted by Macy McDowell, who welcomed Kampers to the Nature Park Bird Blind. After observing several species at the feeders and water basin, kids played a “bird’s life” game, all with acting out incidents that come with being a bird. Many suffered through hardships, but hardly a one died!
2) Dianna Furlan and Mona McMahan led Kampers in discussion of the benefits of Composting and what is necessary for a good compost mixture. A “compost pot” filled with “compost snack material” was enjoyed for the snack of the day along with bananas.
3) Carol Gibson, assisted by Mike Moorehead and Jackson Thornton, gave a presentation on Whitetail Deer, Axis Deer and others in our area, their habitat, their life cycle, and their ways of survival. The display of deer antlers and teeth was a big hit!
4) Jessica Fuller, assisted by Valeria Macias, led a presentation on Nature and its Music then led the kampers in making nature windchimes.
5) Sarah Saldivar, Lucia Cervantes, Marcie Butler, Gage Falkner and Noelle Wood reinforced the Recycles Lesson from Thursday, by showing Kampers all the fun ways they can use recycled materials to make toys, art, and sculptures! Kids made bubble blowers that produced long bubbly snakes and beards!
Rhonda Killion and Michael Wadsworth drove a Ranger each day around the park to make sure all presenters had water and snacks while teaching five lessons to the eager groups! City manager Scott Edmonson and Police Chief John Bauer checked on us periodically to see that all was going well for our groups.
Marcie Butler served as Kamp nurse each day at the parks, tenderly tending to a few scrapes and bruises.
Kamp Staff would like to thank the San Saba Garden Club, San Saba County Museum Board, Keep San Saba Beautiful Commission, and the City of SS for their help in making the Kamp possible each year! Thanks to Bill and Pat Grusendorf for providing bananas for treats. Thank you, San Saba Farm Bureau for providing backpacks again for the Kampers this year! Thanks to Marcus Wood Attorney at Law for the bottles of water for Kamp. Thanks to Keith Shahan who provided paper and printing, and to the SS Garden Club for snacks for the adults.
And, a big thank you to parents for allowing your kids to participate! We had a great year once again!
More photos may be seen on the Kids Nature Kamp San Saba FB page.