We had lots of fun digging up the past this week. Campers discovered much about the history of life on earth – from dinosaurs to lost civilizations– all while also learning the differences between an archaeologist and a paleontologist.
We started off the week on Tuesday when we learned about paleontology and fossils! The day began with a tour of the museum’s Evolution: Life Through Time exhibit where campers were able to see lots of fossils of dinosaurs and other prehistoric life. Then, we put this new knowledge to work when we played prehistoric animal bingo! After seeing all those fossils, we wanted to know more about the people who get to work with these cool fossils every day so we headed over to the museum’s Fossil Prep Lab to talk to a real paleontologist. He taught us about how they prepare fossils to be put on display in the museum and all about how we could become paleontologists too! To finish the day, we worked like real paleontologists to prepare our own fossils using dinosaur models and some Model Magic clay.
On Wednesday, we talked about dig methods. Campers started the day by learning the differences between paleontology and archaeology. We discovered that sometimes paleontologists and archaeologists will use the same tools and collaborate on projects but their fields of study are actually very different. Both paleontologists and archaeologists study past life so campers spent the rest of the day learning about different ways to study the past. We got our hands a bit dirty learning about the history of life in Michigan when we sifted through some dirt from an archaic campsite that was approximately 5,000 years old! After we cleaned ourselves up, we headed inside to do some sand art stratigraphy. Campers learned that the ground beneath our feet is actually many layers of rock that preserve fossils and artifacts.
Thursday’s topic was archaeology and ancient civilizations. We started the day off strong by learning all about the culture and art of ancient Greece. Campers participated in a puzzle solving activity where, through a series of coded clues about ancient Greek civilization, they were able to crack the code and win a prize. We then expanded on this new knowledge of ancient Greece by replicating some Greek vases. Campers used their creativity to create their own versions of what the Greeks were making thousands of years ago. At the end of the day, we switched gears to talk about a different ancient civilization: ancient Egypt! We banded together and used our engineering skills to make pyramids using only toothpicks and clay.
We finished the week with a day full of digging up the past on Friday. We started the day with a tour of two of the museum’s exhibits where we learned about mammoths and mastodons. Campers learned the differences between mammoths and mastodons and were even able to touch a tooth cast from each animal. We continued our journey of learning about extinct animals by learning what made them go extinct. While there were many factors that influenced the extinction of mammoths and mastodons, hunting by humans was one of these factors. Campers created a cast of a clovis point (spear head) out of Model Magic clay while they learned more about how humans and mastodons interacted.
Thank you so much for sending your kids to camp with us this week! If you will not be joining us for another session this year, we hope you have a great summer!