Heritage Days for Kids was a great success this year.

The day started with the kids making tent cards with their names and getting to know each other. Then we did a digital photography challenge. This was one of the highlights of the day. You can read more about that here.

Then we had a fun art activity “Drawing With Your Eyes, Hand, and Mind” with local artist Roger McKasson. For this, we had to draw the contour of various figures without looking at the paper we were drawing on. The idea was to focus the eyes (and mind) on the details of the object, not the drawing itself.

Next, kids got to make their own books using templates we’d created.

After that, we learned about birds, butterflies, and pollination with Greg Magee. This included a special guest visit by a broad-tailed hummingbird (played by Greg’s wife Julie). Each of us had our picture taken with the hummingbird, even me.

          

Then, expert hydrologist Sharon Minchak taught us about groundwater, using a hands on model. The kids enjoyed pumping water with food coloring in and out of the model. I was surprised that some kids here didn’t know that they had wells. (Everyone here does.) Lots of implications to learn and think about.

     

    

Our final activity for the day was making seed art with Maurine Joens. We’d gathered seeds and materials for this for many weeks, and it turned out great.

All in all, it was a great day. Special thanks to Kim Vacariu and Wildlands Network for putting on this great event in our community.