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Park Pals day camp explores nature at Mill Creek
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .India Getts (kneeling, left) thought creatively when it came to find bugs to place in her bug box on a Park Pals expedition on July 13. Getts, who hails from Austintown, remembered that bugs can often be found under decomposing logs.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .During a July 13 Park Pals bug-finding expedition, Clancy Crystal (left), Thomas Larney, Gia Larney, and Benjamin Dewberry showed off their creepy-crawly discoveries.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Park Pals camper and Liberty native Thomas Larney looked very excited with the insect he found and observed in his bug box.
By SARAH FOOR
The natural beauty, landmarks and events at Mill Creek Park could give anyone a long list of things to do and see. However, on July 13-14, the staff at Ford Nature Center invited local first through third-graders to instead focus on the busy buzzing of the park on its smallest level.
During the center’s mid-July Park Pals day camp, organizer and camp counselor Bethany Feusteal wanted to teach her students how to slow down and observe the world around them.
“Any view of Mill Creek Park is amazing, but the way that it’s usually seen doesn’t take the details into account. There are wonderful things happening in park, whether it’s bugs decomposing a log or a caterpillar hanging its chrysalis from a branch, and it’s all there for the kids to observe,” Feusteal said.
Lessons during Park Pals camp taught students about the importance of insects like pollinators, whose pollen helps everything from potatoes to flowers grow. The group used what they learned during games, crafts and hikes.
On July 13, the group followed trails near Ford Nature Center to find a low, shaded forest area. The little explorers turned over logs, dug into piles of compacted leaves and gently rustled sprouting plants to find bugs.
Campers like Thomas Larney, who hails from Liberty, caught insects and placed them into bug boxes for observation.
“Catching bugs is fun — I’ve even been catching them for other people, too. But it’s good that we release them back when we’re done,” Larney mentioned as he explored.
“There is a lot of excitement here and that is what I was hoping for,” said Feusteal during the expedition. “I hope the kids stay excited to take closer looks at everything around them. Maybe their own backyards can be just as exciting as Mill Creek Park.”