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Academy Explorers Camp Photo Gallery

Real Science is Real Fun for ages 5 to 12!

Last summer, campers enjoyed weekly sessions on animal behavior, bugs, fossils, nature art and water that included conducting experiments, drawing dinosaurs, examining museum specimens, meeting live animals, taking field trips and talking with scientists. Check out the slide show below.

Check out the upcoming Academy Explorers Camp programs:

  • exploring animal and human movement
    Campers explore animal movement by meeting
    some very special live animals—human dancers.
  • tarantula
    Campers get perspective on—and proximity to—creepy crawlies
    like this tarantula in a special spider presentation.
  • making natural inks and dyes
    Campers put a little elbow grease into making their own
    natural inks and dyes from red cabbage, vinegar and baking soda.
  • Soloman Island sking
    Campers closely investigate a Solomon Island skink,
    a lizard with the amazing ability to use its tail to climb.
  • collecting insects with sweep nets
    Campers use sweep nets to hunt bugs
    at the Riverbend Environmental Center.
  • insect pinning
    Campers learn the skills of insect pinning.
  • summer camp: observing cockroaches
    Campers design their own experiments to figure out
    why Madagascar hissing cockroaches do what they do.
  • training red-tailed hawk
    Campers learn about how the Academy trains animals,
    including this red-tailed hawk, for use in programs.
  • bird watching in Outside In
    Campers practice their observational skills watching birds
    (both real and not-so-so-real) in Outside In.
  • visit from The Seeing Eye, Inc.
    Campers enjoy a visit from The Seeing Eye, Inc. and get a chance
    to give these puppies some training and lots of affection.
  • visiting a goat at the Elmwood Park Zoo
    Campers encounter wolves, prairie dogs, otters, eagles and,
    of course, goats on a field trip to Elmwood Park Zoo.
  • African pygmy hedgehog
    Campers encounter an African pygmy hedgehog
    and ask questions about this spiky little creature.
  • micro hike
    Campers look closely at the features and inhabitants
    of a small patch of grass in a micro-hike.
  • touring the Live Animal Center
    Campers touring the Academy's Live Animal Center meet
    some of the many animals that live there (like this box turtle)
    and learn how our keepers take care of them.
  • shark jaw
    Campers go into the Ichthyology Collection
    to get up-close-and-personal with this shark jaw.
  • Longwood Gardens
    Campers cool off in the children’s garden at Longwood Gardens.
  • pressing plants
    Campers see how scientists in the Botany Department
    use plant presses to prepare specimens.
  • watery habitats
    Campers work together to identify watery habitats before
    meeting the live animals that make those habitats their homes.
  • creating an aquatic creature
    Campers create a never-before-seen water creature
    from a recycled products, teamwork and a willing counselor.
  • cloud watching
    Campers use their hand-made cloud frames to identify passing clouds.
  • capturing raindrops
    Campers use dry plaster to capture raindrops.
  • Kenyan sand boa
    Campers witness a Kenyan sand boa burrowing into the sand.
  • plant pantomime
    Campers colorfully demonstrate the layers of the forest.
  • squid dissection
    Campers dissect a squid and explore
    the inner workings of this amazing animal.

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