Last week was our Thanksgiving camp here at Sawgrass Nature Center. We offer our educational learning camp during school breaks for children who want to be outside exploring nature and learning more about the world around us. They do this through different games, activities, and lessons that are offered throughout the week based on the theme of that week.
The theme for this week was renewable resources and energy. We explored this topic by playing fun games and doing activities including using solar ovens to help demonstrate solar energy (and make yummy smores) and building pinwheels to learn about wind. This week also included lots of animal visits from some of our educational ambassadors that helped the campers learn more about the world around us and how humans interact with it.
Our next camp is during winter break and is offered for two weeks. Below is a link with more information about the camp as well as the registration form.
December 26th-29th Watery Wonders
January 2nd-5th Native Apex Predators
Here are some ways you can help reduce energy emissions in your daily lives:
- Use energy-efficient lighting
- By using LED lightbulbs and other alternatives, you can help conserve energy and save some money because traditional incandescent bulbs tend to waste around 80% of their energy
- Home gardening
- The plants in home gardens help the overall environment in different ways. Some indoor plants help purify the air while tree canopies outside the house can shade your home and reduce energy usage.
- Wash on cold
- By washing your clothing in cold water instead of warm, you avoid the energy costs for heating the water. This has many benefits for your clothes too including less stretching and fraying and minimal bleeding of colors.
- Air dry what you can
- When possible, try hanging clothing out to air dry instead of using a dryer. By doing this, it helps prevent wrinkles, wearing, and shrinkage from the heat. As a bonus, your clothes smell SUNSHINE GREAT!