Title: Avian AdaptationsImage of tree swallow

Duration: 90 minutes

Badge/Patch Correlations: Science and Nature Fun Patch

Overview: Participants will study a variety of bird adaptations and investigate how each one helps a particular bird survive in the wild. This investigation will involve a visual study of taxidermies as well as trial and error experimenting.

Activities:

  • Use tools resembling bird beaks at “feeding stations” to learn about different beak designs
  • View various feather types under magnification
  • Create a take-home field guide for feathers and other bird adaptations

Title:  Birding the Meadowlands  Image of black crowned night heron

Duration: 90 minutes

Badge/Patch Correlations: Birds Fun Patch

Overview: This program is an exciting introduction to the world of birding. Junior Girl Scouts will view birds in the field and learn how to identify them using field marks.

Activities:

  • Play games to help learn the names of common Meadowlands birds and how to tell them apart
  • Go bird watching
  • Use binoculars and spotting scopes to observe birds closely and practice sketching them

Title: Water Ways Image of water way

Duration: 90 minutes

Badge/Patch Correlations: Wetland Detective Fun Patch

Overview: We know that water is an important resource but do we really appreciate how our lives would be different without it? This program allows girls to investigate the ways we use water, how scarce a resource it can be, and some ways to determine if the water around us is healthy.

Activities:

  • Use microscopes to view and identify plankton
  • Learn about watersheds and use a map to determine your “watershed address”
  • Investigate the water cycle and learn how water moves from place to place

Title: Fun with Fish  Image of largemouth bass

Duration: 90 minutes

Badge/Patch Correlations: Fish Fun Fun Patch

Overview: In spite of the way they smell and feel fish are amazing animals. This program will introduce Junior Girl Scouts to these unique organisms and how to identify some common species.

Activities:

  • Play fish “name games” to get to know common species and how to identify them
  • Make Gyotaku fish prints to take home

Title: Think Green Image of recycled bags

Duration: 90 minutes

Badge/Patch Correlations: Get Moving Journey and Think Green Fun Patch

Overview: This program gives Junior Girl Scouts practical ideas for living a greener lifestyle, from making wise choices about what to buy to simple things they can do at home to reduce their impact on the environment.

Activities:

  • Compare packaging materials of different products
  • Identify some green packaging alternatives
  • Learn about vermicomposting and how it can help reduce your family’s contribution to the waste stream

Title: “Plantology” Image of a redbud tree

Duration: 90 minutes

Badge/Patch Correlations: Plant Study Fun Patch

Overview: Participants will investigate local tree species and look closely at their identifying features and adaptations.

Activities:

  • Examine various tree products and learn how they’re made
  • Use a dichotomous key to identify local tree species
  • Conduct a simple botanical survey of local trees

Title: Salt Marsh Ecology Image of the marsh

(April to November only)

Duration: 90 minutes

Badge/Patch Correlations:  Science and Nature Fun Patch

Overview: Teeming with life and crucial to water quality, the salt marsh is one of our most critical and threatened habitats. Participants will learn about the unique properties of salt water through experimentation and discover how the animals living in it are adapted to it.

Activities:

  • Conduct experiments to learn how salt alters the properties     of water
  • Sample the living organisms in the salt marsh using dip nets and use your findings to piece together a food chain

Title: Say “Hi” to the Night Sky Image of constellation

Duration: 90 minutes

Badge/Patch Correlations:  Get Moving Journey (Energize Award);  Constellations Fun Patch

Overview: This program provides the tools and facts to help girls get to know the universe! What objects are visible in the night sky? How can you tell the difference between stars and planets? These and many other astronomical questions will be answered.

Activities:

  • Enjoy optics demonstrations that explain how telescopes work
  • Observe constellations using a sky map to help identify them
  • View the night sky through a 20” reflector telescope housed in the William D. McDowell Observatory

Title: CSI – NJ Meadowlands: The Case of the Missing Moustache Image of a moustache

Duration: 120 minutes

Badge/Patch Correlations:  Detective Badge  (Get Moving Journey)

Overview:  A masterpiece has been vandalized and the authorities have called upon your troop to help solve the crime! Girls will learn and practice the skills necessary to be a forensic scientist, including chromatography, fingerprinting, and fiber analysis.

Activities:

  • Examine a mock crime scene to find evidence
  • Use chromatography to analyze ink samples
  • Compare fingerprints found at the crime scene to those from several suspects

Program fee:

  •  90 min. program: $10/scout  (No cost to leaders/chaperones)
  • 2-hour program: $12/scout (No cost to leaders/chaperones)

Policies:

 Minimum of 6 scouts is required to run a program.

Required adult to child ratio:   1:6

Reservations should be made at least 2 weeks in advance

 For more information, please contact Kirk Weber at 201-460-8384 or by e-mail at kweber@ramapo.edu

 

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