Fun Friday Family Nature Night at Clyde Miller
As families arrived at Clyde Miller Elementary for an evening of fun and activities, the excitement was evident. Several families were visiting for the second year in a row, remembering the good times they had the previous season. It’s wonderful to see familiar faces in attendance!
The hallway was packed with activities for all ages. Both Morrison Nature Center and Butterfly Pavilion brought black widow spiders as part of their live explorations. These were a hit and many people learned a lot about these venomous spiders over the course of the evening. Did you know they are almost blind?
The hissing cockroaches were also cause for oohs and ahhs as well as picture-taking and feeling their shiny exoskeletons.
Rocky Mountain Arsenal and US Forest Service challenged visitors with trivia while History Colorado had history bingo and posing with the state symbols. There were so many photo ops, parents had to keep their phones out to get pictures of dressed up butterflies, siblings standing with the state fish, and spinning the trivia wheel!
The Wildlife trivia wheel was a fun stop on the way into the cafeteria to get free pizza and lemonade, and it also became a great diversion just before and just after the exciting 6pm raffle. Families that gathered were in for a treat consisting of outdoor gear, History Colorado family passes, and a State Parks pass as grand prize!
At the end of the hallway, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies set up a bird identification station that had students peering through binoculars trying to pick out specific features of the birds displayed on the wall. Everyone was hoping to get a stamp on their hand for being successful.
In the gym, a constant stream of kids tried their hands at Backyard Bass fish casting and archery. These were such favorites with a few diehards that they kept getting back in line to try again as soon as they were done with a turn. Some students even learned how to collect arrows from targets and posed with bullseyes made after much practice. Fishermen collected a bounty of plastic fish to show their prowess with a rod.
With the night drawing to a close, parents rounded up children who just wanted one last cast or shot, fully satisfied after an entertaining night. The SOLE program could not pull off this wonderful event without the help and support of volunteers, staff, partners, Clyde Miller staff, and everyone who attended. Thank you!
