Help your Child Learn Responsibility

By Lonie Lorenz

Animal Summer Camp ? Let your kids play with animals this summer as a part of the fun they can have at summer camp. Find a science camp, or a more broadly defined summer camp that includes animals as a part of their program offerings.

Connecting with animals in a natural setting can put a child at the beginning of a lifelong sense of relationship with nature. A deep respect for nature as an adult often starts with experience as a camper.

At Swift Nature Camp, near Minong, Wisconsin, a unique pond aquarium gives kids a chance to see pond life from a frog's point of view, while our Nature's Neighbors live animal collection provides opportunities for up-close study and care of several common Northwoods residents as well as a few exotic immigrants. Campers with their own small animals are encouraged to bring them to camp to share with others. The animals live in the Nature Center, where all campers can enjoy and learn about them.

Working in conjunction with the Wisconsin DNR and the U.S. Park Service, Swift Nature Camp has also developed a hands-on environmental learning program which includes field trips, such as visits to a fish hatchery and state parks; hands-on field projects, like goose banding and butterfly counts; and exciting camp presentations, including visits with live owls.

Campers are individuals, and Swift Nature Camp has created a voluntary merit program that allows each child to mix skill development and play in ways that suit his or her personality. Experience with animals can be refined into skills in areas like pet care, insects, bird watching and horseback riding.

Today's children grow up too fast and need time to play. The summer camp you are looking for should challenge your child to try new things, but not in a stressful way. Camp is not school! Interaction with animals can be a perfect way for a child to learn by the natural discovery of play. Besides all the fun and excitement of a traditional camp, the kids have the joy of discovering Nature and the world we live in.

Still looking for the Best Children's Camp Se SummerCampAdvice.com - 31490

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Summer Animal Camp

By Lonnie Lorenz

At Swift Nature Camp, a summer camp in Northern Wisconsin, children play outside while learning about Nature and Science. Here are some helpful hints parents can do at home

Being Observant is the most important aspect of enjoying the outdoors. How often do kids run through the woods never stopping to notice what they are passing.

Walking or hiking through the woods is a regular part of Summer Science Camp. However, with out having a purpose many times staff and campers merely walk along the trail without really noticing what is around them. They overlook the sounds, sights, textures and diversity of the ecosystem.

So when you take your kids out in nature, try these things. Simple supplies are needed, so it will take only a few minutes to collect them. Or you can plan and keep them on the side ready to go.

One you feel you have a feel for these activities invite your children's friends to come along, I'm sure they too will enjoy being away from their scheduled lives and enjoy the peace of nature,

Make a Rubbing
Supplies: Paper, crayons or charcoal
Ahead of time: It is best to have experience at this before you help others.
Assignment: Search for trees, rocks and logs that have a variety of textures. Put the paper over the surface of the tree, rock or log, hold the charcoal or crayon at an angle, and rub over the paper so that the unique pattern is transferred to the paper.
Conversation: What did you discover by doing these rubbings?

Changes Everywhere
Supplies: Clipboard and writing utensils
Ahead of time: think or research how things would be different if the land was developed
Assignment: Stop along the trail and look into the woods. Imagine that the land had sold this plot of land to a developer to build. How would that development changethings? What effect would it have on the habitat and food supplies of the animals living there? What would happen to the soil if the trees were cut down? How would the plants in the woods change? How would the threat of erosion increase?
Conversation: How have ecosystems near your home been destroyed? What changes have happened to the land?

Sounds of Nature
Supplies: Paper and pencil for each, you can get cds with sounds in the library bird field guide
Ahead of time: Find out what types of birds are native to the woods around, listen to the cd and study the sounds
Assignment: Sit in the woods a slight distance from others, and be quiet Close your eyes and listen. When you hear a sound, see if you can recall the bird calll,
Conversation: What was your favorite sound and why?

We at Swift Nature Camp hope this gave a sample of some of the projects we do out in Nature. If you child is interested in these sorts of activities have them join us next summer.

If this is your first time thinking about Summer Camp look at Summer Camp Advice a free website that helps parents find the right camp for their child. - 31490

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Use Rubber Mats To Prevent Slip And Fall Accidents.

By Adriana Noton

Business owners will appreciate the convenience and safety that is offered by installing rubber mats at the entry and in other sections of their place of business to prevent trip and fall accidents.

While you may have insurance to cover such accidents, any time you have a customer enter your business place, there is the possibility of an accident. While you are not able to prevent all the accidents, you can show the courts that you have taken steps to prevent as many as possible. One of the simplest of these precautions is to have rubber mats at all entries. This can help to prevent tracking of rain or snow from being tracked inside and causing the possibility of a wet floor on which one of your customers could fall.

Another place that customers may slip or fall is in the produce section of a grocery store. Sometimes other customers can drop small items, such as grapes in this section of the store and another customer can step on the dropped item that becomes very slippery. Even though you did not drop the produce, as the owner of the business, you are held liable for the injury. You could end up paying for lost wages and medical bills.

By providing mats at the entry and using runners in sections of your business such as produce, you can lower the chance of injury and excessive costs.

In many restaurants as well as other businesses, there are areas where floors become slippery from a buildup of oils or greases. Once again, you will find that runners help to prevent an employee from falling and being injured. This can prevent a workmen's comp claim and keep your overhead lower.

You will appreciate that the runners or mats can be quickly rolled up when dirty and a clean one can be put out in its place. Meanwhile, be sure that workers work to keep floors and other surfaces clear of all spills. Make it a company policy that all floors and mats are mopped using an ammonia based detergent and hot water to remove grease and prevent a hazard.

In addition, the use of rubber mats can protect floor coverings from the dirt as well as grime that is often brought in form outside. It is much easier to clean the entry runner or mat than to clean the entire floor. Entry runners that can easily be exchanged in only a few seconds are a great way to cut overhead. Once removed, they can be cleaned by use of either a garden hose or a pressure washer and allowed to dry for reuse.

The easy clean option makes the runners an excellent choice for businesses where workers often work outside. Many are available that will trap dirt and mud before it ever enters your building so that the need for carpet cleaning is lowered.

Whether looking for ways to protect a business from liability or to protect floor coverings from outside dirt, water and mud, rubber mats are an effective way to keep your place of business free of all these dangers. The can easily be placed anywhere that hazards may exist and be removed if necessary in seconds. - 31490

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Nature Summer Camp

By Lonnie Lorenz

At Swift Nature Camp, in Northern Wisconsin, children play outside while learning about Nature and Science. Here are some helpful hints we do at Summer Camp that you can try at home,

Being Observent is the most important aspect of enjoying the outdoors. How often do kids run through the woods never stoping to notice what they are passing.

Walking or hiking through the woods is a regular part of camp. However, many times staff and campers merely walk along the trail without really noticing what is around them. They overlook the sounds, sights, textures and diversity of the ecosystem.

Please read these simple programs that can be done while walking through the woods. You may need suppliesbut it will take only a few minutes to get them.

One you feel you have a feel for these activities invite your childrens friends to come along, I'm sure they too will enjoy being away from their scheduled lives and enjoy the peace of nature,

Look Down
Supplies: Yarn and scissors
Ahead of time: Cut the yarn into 15-inch pieces, have one for every two campers.
Assignment: Move off the trail, and make a square on the ground with the yarn. Study what you find within the square. What lives there? What is the soil like? What grows there? Use a stick and dig into the ground a little. What do you see?
Conversation: What did you find in the square or circle that surprised you?

Changes
Supplies: Clipboard and writing utensils
Ahead of time: think or research how things would be different if the land was developed
Assignment: Stop along the trail and look into the woods. Imagine that the land had sold this plot of land to a developer to build. How would that development changethings? What effect would it have on the habitat and food supplies of the animals living there? What would happen to the soil if the trees were cut down? How would the plants in the woods change? How would the threat of erosion increase?
Conversation: How have ecosystems near your home been destroyed? What changes have happened to the land?

Take A Wildflower Hike
Supplies: Wildflower field guide
Ahead of time: Try to do a little reseach what might be blooming in your area.
Assignment: Stop at any wildflower, observe it, and try to figure out how it grows, how it produces seeds, and what type of soil it grows in. Use the field guide to identify the flower. If you have extra time even draw it in nature.
Conversation: How are the flowers alike? How are they different?

Swift Nature Camp hopes this information give you few a simple projects we do at our camp out in Nature. If you child is interested in these sorts of activities Please look at our website and see if we might be part of your summer plans,

If this is your first time thinking about Summer Camp look at Summer Camp Advice a free website that helps parents fing the right camp for thier child. - 31490

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