Souris Valley Museum knows how to engage their young patrons when they don’t have to go to school. For the winter break, they set up two camps: Zoom, where younger participants learned all about fast and slow-moving objects, and Space Camp for a bit older kids, where they travelled through cosmos, exploring stars, planets and aliens.
“Camps have been very successful this week,” said museum’s executive director Mark Veneziano. “The kids were very interested in space, and they knew a few different space travels (like) Apollo 13."
Zoom camp was filled to capacity with 13 participants, who had a chance to learn everything about the museum’s collection of old vehicles, fast and slow animals and much more. Veneziano noted that when they were developing the programs for the camps, they tried to build on local history and connections. For example, the buggy the kids got to see closer was driven in Oungre during the 30s, and the old fire truck was used at the airport during the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
The idea of the Space Camp was also born out of Estevan history.
“In the 70s Estevan experienced some crop circles phenomenon, so Space Camp developed from that,” said Veneziano. “Sometimes history can be depicted as long and boring, something that kids don’t want to learn about. And we have a challenge where we have to make history fun, so we pick topics they would like.”
The registration is now open for the Fairytale Adventures and Recycling spring camps that will take place in April. People can register online at www.sourisvalleymuseum.com or call the museum.
