One of the special guests at our beaver festival this year was Reese Mercer the director of the beaver advocacy group Western Beavers from Oregon. The group is also fiscally sponsored by ISI. I made sure she got a special invitation to join the Aqua Squad activity so we could share some ideas about how to include children in learning about beaver benefits directly. Because adults always tag along as well! She enjoyed what she saw so much that she asked to repeat this activity at their county fair event later in the year. Of course I agreed and gave yer links to all the designs and materials so she could repeat them for the next generation of water guardians.
She sent a summary of the event this morning and I couldn’t resist passing it along:
Beaver Facts Scavenger Hunt
Kids carried a small passport and visited four participating booths as part of the “Become a Water Guardian!” scavenger hunt. Western Beavers partnered with the police department, Oregon Hunters Association, the Bowman Museum and the Crook County Weed Management Association, with each booth holding a different beaver sign and question. Together, the four answers reinforced a simple message: beaver dams can make water cleaner, deeper, cooler and slower-moving.Each correct answer earned a sticker in the passport. After collecting all four, children returned to the Beaver Booth for a Beaver Believer sticker and a special drink, “The Irrigator,” from a local vendor. The activity became something kids actively sought out and told their friends about – a strong sign that it had become part of the fair experience rather than simply another educational handout.
It makes me very happy to think that there are many more young beaver believers and water guardians running around in Crook County because of this. And I’m especially jealous about the special drink name and idea.How fun!
