Environmental Activities for Youth Clubs and Camps - Peace Corps

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Environmental Activities for Youth Clubs and Camps

Office of Overseas Programming and Training Support (OPATS)

March 2017 Peace Corps Publication No. M0126

Environmental Activities for Youth Clubs and Camps

Office of Overseas Programming and Training Support (OPATS)

March 2017 Peace Corps Publication No. M0126

Acknowledgments

Environmental Activities for Youth Clubs and Camps (Peace Corps Publication No. M0126) is a compilation of activities that Peace Corps Volunteers and other youth workers can use and adapt to help kids learn about a wide range of environmental topics. The activities have been selected according to their suitability in nonformal situations and their educational value, especially in the countries where the Peace Corps is serving.

Peace Corps Environment Specialist Dave Wood within the Office of Overseas Programming and Training Support (OPATS) selected and edited the manual's activities, many of which were contributed by Peace Corps posts worldwide. OPATS program assistant Chris Lindstrom collected activities from the posts and organized them into categories, and Peace Corps intern Ellen Alderton located additional activities and helped to edit this manual. Laura Pirocanac, strategic content and design specialist, and Heather Mann, contractor, provided further editing for this publication. Contractor Alena Jarnik, with guidance from multimedia specialist Theresa Welling, provided graphic design and layout services. Other major contributors include Peace Corps Literacy Specialist Annaliza Thomas, Youth and Volunteerism Specialists Karen Scheuerer and Carl Triplehorn, Peace Corps/Panama Program Specialist Amy Stypa, Sidwell Friends School drama teacher Tim Reagan, and Peace Corps intern Akoo Donahoe.

The manual distills the creative thinking of many different sources. The following Peace Corps posts contributed activities that they have found to be successful:

? Armenia

? Benin

? Cameroon

? Costa Rica

? Dominican Republic

? Ecuador

? El Salvador

? Jamaica

? Mexico

? Nicaragua

? Paraguay

? Peru

? Romania

? The Gambia

? Togo

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Environmental Activities for Youth Clubs and Camps

The Peace Corps also gratefully acknowledges the activities contributed by or inspired by the following sources:

? 101 Nature Activities by Elizabeth Rundle and Jan Sanborn, Sanborn Western Camps ? A Community Guide to Environmental Health by Jeff Conant and Pam Fadem,

Hesperian Foundation ? Engaging Youth in the Outdoors by the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA) ? Creek Freaks Curriculum by IWLA ? Sharing Nature With Children by Joseph Cornell ? Zoomy Zoomy by Hannah Fox, Tusitala Publishing (e-book version also available)

Finally, some activities were excerpted from complementary Peace Corps publications: ? Environmental Education in the Community (No. M0075) ? Environmental Education in Schools: Creating a Program That Works (No. M0044) ? Teaching in the Whole Garden (No. R0085) ? Intensive Vegetable Gardening for Profit and Self-Sufficiency (No. R0025)

Environmental Activities for Youth Clubs and Camps

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Table of Contents

Introduction........................................................................................................... 1

Selecting Activities.............................................................................................................................. 4 Evaluating Your Activities................................................................................................................10 Additional Peace Corps Resources 12 Child Protection................................................................................................................................... 12

Animal Activities ................................................................................................13

1.Adopt a Bug.....................................................................................................................................15 2.Animal Game................................................................................................................................... 17 3.Animal Menus..................................................................................................................................18 4.Animal Spirits..................................................................................................................................18 5.Attracting Insects..........................................................................................................................19 6.Bat and Moth Game....................................................................................................................20 7.Bird Watching.................................................................................................................................20 8.Camouflaged Critters.................................................................................................................. 21 9.Camouflage Hide and Seek...................................................................................................... 22 10.Creating a Schoolyard Wildlife Habitat..............................................................................23 11.Date a Mate....................................................................................................................................23 12.Day of the Dead: Species Extinction...................................................................................24 13.Design a Bird.................................................................................................................................24 14.Group Creature............................................................................................................................25 15.Insect Exploration.......................................................................................................................26 16.Make a Nest...................................................................................................................................26 17.Name That Animal....................................................................................................................... 27 18.Noah's Ark...................................................................................................................................... 27 19.What Animal Am I?....................................................................................................................28 20.What Habitat Am I?..................................................................................................................28 21.Wildlife Habitats and Human Impact..................................................................................29

Ecology Activities...............................................................................................31

22.Carmen's Farm............................................................................................................................33 23.Concentrated Chemicals.........................................................................................................35 24.Deer/Antelope Hunter..............................................................................................................36

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Environmental Activities for Youth Clubs and Camps

25.Ecosystem Musical Chairs....................................................................................................... 37 26.Ecosystem Web......................................................................................................................... 40 27.Food Web Demonstration........................................................................................................41 28.Migration Mania Game.............................................................................................................43 29.Mutualism and Commensalism.............................................................................................43 30.Pollination Brain Teasers.........................................................................................................46 31.Pollinator Mobile..........................................................................................................................49 32.Pyramid of Life........................................................................................................................... 50 33.Recipe for a Forest.....................................................................................................................51 34.Seed Dispersal Exhibit..............................................................................................................51 35.Seed Race..................................................................................................................................... 52 36.Transects and Quadrats...........................................................................................................53

Food Security Activities.................................................................................... 55

37.Are You Food Secure?.............................................................................................................. 57 38.Food Security Game.................................................................................................................58 39.Finding the Organic Solution................................................................................................64 40.Making Natural Pest Controls...............................................................................................66 41.Market Prices: Economic Incentives for Food Conservation.....................................69 42.Seed Germination Experiments...........................................................................................70 43.What Do You Need to Grow Food?..................................................................................... 71 44.Where Does Your Food Come From?................................................................................ 72

Games.................................................................................................................. 73

45.Environmental Word Guessing Game................................................................................ 75 46.Jeopardy!-Style Game............................................................................................................. 75 47.Scavenger Hunts.........................................................................................................................79 48.Snakes (Chutes) and Ladders...............................................................................................84 49.Treasure Hunts............................................................................................................................85

Integrating English Language and Literacy Learning Into Environmental Camps................................................ 87

Natural Resource Management Activities...................................................... 93

50.Case Studies: What Would You Do?..................................................................................95 51.Climate Change Dodgeball.....................................................................................................98 52.Climate Change Meltdown.....................................................................................................98 53.Drawing Your Favorite Place...............................................................................................100 54.Fishbowling Debates............................................................................................................... 101

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55.Fortune-Teller.............................................................................................................................. 101 56.Gifts From the Earth............................................................................................................... 102 57.Greed vs. Need.......................................................................................................................... 103 58.Our Promise...............................................................................................................................104 59.Past and Future........................................................................................................................ 105 60.Personal Environmental Action Survey........................................................................... 105 61.Popcorn Generation.................................................................................................................106 62.Red Light/Green Light........................................................................................................... 107 63.Role-Playing............................................................................................................................... 108 64.Two Different Communities.................................................................................................109 65.When They're Gone, They're Gone......................................................................................111

Nature Awareness Activities............................................................................ 113

66.Blind Trail..................................................................................................................................... 115 67.Budding/Becoming a Mushroom........................................................................................ 115 68.Get in Touch With Nature...................................................................................................... 116 69.Make a Nature Corner............................................................................................................. 116 70.Making an Ant's Nature Trail..................................................................................................117 71.Making an Elf's Village..............................................................................................................117 72.Nature Bingo................................................................................................................................117 73.Nature/Interpretive Trails....................................................................................................... 118 74.Nature Rubbings Game.......................................................................................................... 119 75.Nature Sculptures.................................................................................................................... 120 76.Press Conference..................................................................................................................... 120 77.Rocks, Plants, and Animals Memory Game......................................................................121 78.Sitting in Silence.........................................................................................................................121 79.The Sound of Silence...............................................................................................................122 80.Take a Hike: Nature Walks.................................................................................................... 123 81.Unnatural Nature....................................................................................................................... 124

Service Learning Activities..............................................................................125

munity Mapping.............................................................................................................. 130 munity Surveys................................................................................................................. 131 84.Making a Video or PowerPoint of the Community..................................................... 132

Soil and Water Activities .................................................................................137

85.Aqua Words Relay Race........................................................................................................ 139 86.Building Model Watersheds................................................................................................. 139

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