ESTEVAN - The Estevan Area Literacy Group has been hosting Nature Smarts camps throughout the summer.
The seven-week program will come to an end next week with a Dinosaur Camp.
"I left that up for the last week because it seems to be the most exciting one for them all. They just love anything to do with dinosaurs and fossils. And we usually have a fossil dig that we do and learn about different dinosaurs," said Estevan Area Literacy Group literacy co-ordinator Grace Caputo.
The camps started on July 11 and will wrap up on Aug. 24, running Monday-Thursday with morning and afternoon groups for kids ages four to 12 every day. The fun educational summer program is free to participants, and kids can register and come back as they want for more experiences.
"We have offered a theme each week. And it consists of story time, artistic exploration activities, STEM [science, technology, engineering, math] activities and social-emotional activities. And we've had a guest speaker," Caputo said.
"The idea was really to promote the expressive and receptive language skills for students. With that, it's not just literacy as in words, but literacy through understanding, [for example] how music is an expression, and how we can use that to take information in as well, having young individuals be in tune with what's around them while being part of nature. We do some things outside every day and most of our themes encompass the nature theme," added Margaret Duncan, a senior summer literacy co-ordinator assistant.
The program started years ago when the organizers would take kids to Woodlawn Regional Park and read stories to them down there. Later, Nature Smarts grew bigger and required an indoor facility to provide shelter on rainy days and air conditioning for the hotter ones. For the last few years, they've been using the Nicholson Centre at the Estevan Leisure Centre and going out to the city parks for outdoor activities.
While in camps, participants explore different mediums and the world around them in fun ways, making the learning experience more exciting.
"Some of the things that they've done is they've made water filters using natural [items like] grass and sand and dirt to figure out how to clean water. They have done solar systems, and we've made telescopes," Duncan said.
"We've had an insect week where we go outside and explore different insects. We look for different insects, what they eat, how they eat, those kinds of things," Caputo added.
They also had a Canada week, a solar system week, a weather week and more. They've made different pictures, using nature supplies, explored a drone and had many other hands-on experiences that Duncan hopes will help kids in the future.
"It's something that is extremely educational, yet fun. So it doesn't seem like they're in school. It's one of those things where they can come out in the summer, and they do have that physical activity outside, but it's also a learning experience for them. And you'd be surprised what they pick up, they really enjoy the STEM experiments and they like to learn," Caputo said.
At Nature Smarts, participants also find new friends and learn from each other.
Camps averaged 35 kids a day between two groups, and some groups were as big as 27 participants. Some kids come on a regular basis and participate in several camps, while others pick their week or days to join the group.
"It's great to see the kids from the very beginning of the program, and how much they evolve. And I think it's just because they get to know each other and make friends and they get to know us. And you can see the difference, I think it's huge. And I love that," Caputo said.
To register, parents need to call the Estevan Area Literacy Group or come to the centre to fill out the form.
The literacy group was able to offer the camps free of charge to the public thanks to grants. The organization is a member agency of the United Way Estevan and Caputo was able to secure a grant from the Â鶹´«Ã½AV Saskatchewan Community Foundation. Summer grants from Sask. Lotteries and the Community Initiative Fund also helped cover the expenses. On top of that, the Canada Summer Jobs grant allowed the group to hire Rebecca Duncan as summer staff and helped to have Margaret Duncan assisting with the camps.
Also, the Lions Club of Estevan donated their space. The literacy group is grateful for the grants and for the community support.
"Thank you to the community for supporting the program because if we didn't have people come, obviously we couldn't run it," Duncan said.
"The community is huge," Caputo added.
