By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Cheyenne Bottoms offers endless research possibilities. Educators at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center want to share some of their knowledge with a series of summer camps for children of all ages. Educator Mandy Kern said there will be something for everyone.
"The goal is to get kids outside and interested in nature," she said. "They'll have outdoor exploration and animal and plant investigations. The grade school camps will have nature-related crafts and games. The middle school/high school camp will be more of what the day in the life of a field biologist looks like and some of the research they can do at Cheyenne Bottoms."
Registration for all three camps is $20. On June 10, KWEC will host a Field Biology Day Camp for students who have completed grades 7-11. Registration is due by May 20. A Discovery Camp for grades 1-3 will be held July 16 and 18, with registration due June 26. Grades 4-6 will have their Discovery Camp on July 23 and 25, with registration due on June 26. Both Discovery Camps will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
"Busy parents and working parents might not be able to get their kids here from 9-3," Kern said. "They can drop them off as early as 7:30 a.m. and pick them up as late as 5:30 p.m. for an additional $10."
Times for the Field Biology Day Camp will be determined at a later time.
"Last year, we did several different things and we started a little bit earlier in the day to beat the heat for some of the outdoor activities," Kern said, "and also, some of the animals we were doing research on, you have to get up early to catch them."
Camp attendees will need to bring a sack lunch but snacks will be provided. Call the KWEC at (877) 243-9268 to register.