Fieltrip to Gamehaven Boy Scout Reservation

GO kids try tomahawk throw at camp

This summer flew by with all of the fun adventures we experienced!

We had fieldtrips to the Gamehaven Boy Scout Reservation where the kids got to try archery, bb gunds, swimming and tomahawk throwing.

Learning gun safety at scout camp

Thanks to Winona State University’s River Explorer Program, we also had a trip to the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge to learn more about the river and to go fishing.

Fishing at the Upper Mississippi River Refuge in Winona

Fish printing at the Upper Mississippi River Refuge

St. Charles GO kids proudly display the geo-cache they found.

We took several trips to Whitewater State Park for hikes, geo-caching, fishing and swimming.

Plainview GO kids fishing at Whitewater State Park.

In Plainview and St. Charles, we utilized the city parks to look for insects, animals, to learn about camping and fire starting and to make and fly kites.

Catching spiders at the park.

Hiking the city park in St. Charles in search of animal tracks.

Making plaster casts of animal tracks.

St. Charles GO kids showing their plaster track casts.

Demonstrating how to make a bumblebee kit.

This kite was colored to look like a bumble bee.

Kite flying fun!

This big kite was really hard to get off the ground!

In Plainview, we also worked on our garden plot over the summer months.

We found bugs, a toad and a mouse living in our garden plot!

Weeding the GO garden in Plainview.

Everyone helps carry the weeds to the compost pile.Our garden after weeding and mulching!

We worked in our garden plot weeding, planting, mulching and tending to our flowers.

The week of Earth Day, we planted trees at Whitewater State Park.

We took a hike to find smooth rocks and then we decorated them to make pebble pets.

We worked with the local Leos Club (junior Lions Club International) to do a bike rodeo and learn about bike safety. The St. Charles Ambulance team came to demonstrate the importance of wearing a helmet.

And we built bluebird houses to donate to area parks and trails.

Some of the activities kids in the Rochester, Winona, Plainview and St. Charles Project GO clubs did include sledding, snow shoeing, bird feeding, cross county skiing, broom ball, animal tracking, and winter scavenger hunts.

Although it has been a busy winter, most of us are ready for spring time!

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.