October 2008
The month of October sure was a busy one! We kicked off school year programs in Plainview, St. Charles and Winona with over 100 children participating so far.
The kids had fun on our leaf hikes, looking at the beautiful fall colors and finding leaves to lamenate. It was a hard decision when it came down to choosing one leaf to take home.
We made journals so the kids can note nature observations at home too. 4-H came to the Winona club and led the journal-making activities, complete with a leather punching kit for the journal covers.
We also enjoyed exploring the local forest areas. The Plainview club had fun out at Carley State Park, hiking the river crossings and overlooks. In St. Charles we utilized the local school forest and played some games.
We introduced the children to birding and how to use binoculars. In Winona, the Fish and Wildlife Service came out to lead the kids on some birding activities.
Our service project for October was a litter cleanup. The children really enjoy picking up litter and after wards, we have each group pull out one thing that could recycle and make into something else for survival. We call it the SurvivorMan Game.
As the month drew to a close and Halloween arrived, we did some fun Halloween activities including having the kids hide their “pirate treasure” and then make maps and swap with other teams to try to find eachothers treasures. We also did some pumpkin decorating.
