2025 STEAM Summer Week 3

Week 3’s theme was Outdoor Adventures

Our third week’s theme was “Outdoor Adventures”! We started the week off with a visit from the Bell Museum, who brought furs/pelts from animals like beavers and minks for us to feel. They led a beak identification activity, simulating grabbing “food” (fake leaves, pom poms, etc.) with different kinds of “beaks” (tools like tongs), and had campers guess which bird species they represented.

Explorers feeling the beaver pelt brought by the Bell Museum

Bell Museum doing the beak identification activity with Investigators

The Explorers made some indoor s’mores (to pretend we were camping) and did an outdoor scavenger hunt. They did a nature art project with Len, where they collected leaves, plants, sticks, & bark from outside and made rubbings of their textures with crayons and paper. Investigators used Bell Museum kits to germinate seeds and then took a walking trip to the MIA to get some exercise and appreciate some art. They really enjoyed looking at the historical chairs (even though they couldn’t sit on them).

Bell Museum germination kits

Investigators at the Minneapolis Institute of Art

Program Manager Deeq took the Investigators on a walk to the Urban Ventures garden. We got to see the chickens, harvest spicy peppers & tomatillos, eat squash flowers, and choose vegetable seeds to plant and take home. The most popular seed picks were watermelon and corn. We also weeded GMCC’s garden plot, which had corn, squash, and beans grown by our Andersen United afterschool Garden Club. The plants have grown a lot since they were planted in the spring, and will be ready for harvest in the fall!

Investigators weeding the garden plot

“Can we do this again?” – Investigator at the Urban Ventures garden

Chickens and corn plants at the Urban Ventures community garden

Back at GMCC, Investigators painted their plant pots. Explorers also got to pick out flower planting kits, choosing from forget-me-nots, daisies, sunflowers, poppies, and cacti (the most popular option). They also got to plant vegetable seeds, with the help of Investigator (and maybe Apprentice Guide in-training) Rim, and paint their flower pots.

Explorers & Investigators painting their pots

Other art projects included drawing treasure maps, making shaving cream art, and creating our own slime!

Treasure maps

Shaving cream art

Apprentice Guide Caleb helping make slime

On Friday, we took another field trip to Lake Phalen to spend the day with Wilderness Inquiry. We broke into groups and rotated between stations: we did canoeing, learned how to start fires with ferro rods & cotton balls to make s’mores, touched animals bones, antlers, & fur/pelts, and went on a nature walk to identify bugs, trees, & plants.