Published: July 18, 2008 04:32 pm            

Campers learn how insects rule

If creepy, crawly creatures with numerous legs (or no legs) tend to send shivers up your back, it might be a good idea to stay away from Rooms 12 and 13 in the basement of Willard Hall while a summer enrichment camp is being held.

The Stillwater Children’s Museum partnered up with Oklahoma State University’s College of Education to host eight weeks of summer camps. Currently the students are learning how “insects rule the world,” where time has been spent in the classroom and outdoors studying numerous insects and their environment.

The kids began by learning about how many insects there are on our planet and the differences between arthropods, arachnids and six-legged insects. Many activities focused on dispelling the myths about insects and learning about these creatures’ amazing benefits.

They visited the OSU Insectary to learn about and hold critters and the OSU Botanical Garden and Arboretum for a spider web scavenger hunt. Wednesday the campers spent the day at Will Rogers Boy Scout Reservation in Cleveland to collect insects on land and in water. They made a pinned collection of the insects they captured and each camper took home a Madagascar hissing cockroach to keep for the week as a pet.

Beekeeper Rick and his wife, Pam, from Harrah, gave the campers a hands-on approach to the life and purpose of the honeybee during class Thursday. The students took in every word as he told them facts such as honeybees die after they sting (the only insect that carries this distinction) and have been around for approximately 30 million years.

One fact that fascinated the students was that the honeybees can use cola, candy and other sweets to make their nectar. The end result is that the honey can taste like these products and many campers were going to go home and taste their honey.

Next week, the final week of the camp, the children will learn about “How do they do that?” a class which will focus on how things are made and how they work.

        

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