Tree frog lying on its leaves.
Egg-holding white-fronted tall-legged spider.
Crafting hands for students.
Walk into the wild jungle and enjoy the insects and birds. This summer, more and more children are "embracing" nature, exploring, venturing and growing in the "Green Classroom".
Last week, the South China National Botanical Garden successively launched a summer camp with the theme of "naturalism on the tip of the tongue", and more than a dozen children participated in the "Foodie Summer Camp", where they observed and understood the "eating" way of plants while tasting plant delicacies. In addition, during the weekend night viewing activities, more than 20 parent-child groups, led by professionals, visited the natural creatures hidden in the botanical garden.
Taste the "Botanical Garden on the Tip of the Tongue"
On July 25, the "Naturalism on the Tip of the Tongue" summer camp officially opened.
At the first stop of the summer camp, the reporter followed the team to a forest. "Look for fresh leaves on the ground, tear it apart, and rub it again to make the essential oil in the leaves evaporate and we can smell the leaves." After the leading teacher introduced the steps, the young campers began to practice. Almost every time I walked to a new tree to plant, I picked up the fallen leaves, tore them open, and leaned close to my nose to smell the leaves.
While guiding the young campers to practice, the summer camp instructor also explained to the young campers the unique functions of the leaves of different tree species, such as the leaves of the incense tree can be used to cook soup, the leaves of the camphor tree can be used to make mothballs, and the grass cardamom can protect itself by emitting odors to drive away insects. This kind of edutainment and fun in the way of science popularization has stimulated the curiosity of the young campers, and they have listened to the content explained by the teacher with relish.
After a two-hour outdoor tour, the team headed to the Science Information Center. While sipping lotus leaf tea, the campers received a notebook and a box of colored pencils. They let their imaginations run wild, painted what they saw and heard in a notebook, and obtained a botanical notebook of their own. "I drew three leaves on the first page and arranged them in the shape of a crown, with leaves of lemon eucalyptus in the middle and leaves of camphor trees on both sides." Mei Zongyue, a second-grade girl, uses this method to save her memories of feeling the aroma of leaves.
According to Teacher Ji, the "naturalism on the tip of the tongue" summer camp lasted for a total of three days, and the course content not only included "how humans eat", but also covered "how to eat plants" and "how to eat insects", from the perspective of "foodies", let the children feel that other creatures in this world are closely related to humans.
Look for natural creatures on summer nights
On the evening of July 30, a torrential rain briefly drove away the week-long heat. As it gets darker, more than 20 pairs of campers with flashlights gather at the gate of the South China National Botanical Garden, ready to go deep into the park to find natural creatures hidden in the grass in the forest.
In the following walking night view, we found a variety of amphibians and arachnids. Teacher Ji holds insects such as bamboo elephants in his hands, so that children and parents can observe closely and feel the touch of insects crawling on their hands.
On the lakeside trail, a group of white-fronted tall-legged spiders during the breeding season were spotted. The spider was seen lying motionless on the back of the blade, holding an egg the size of its body in its arms. "Mother spiders have the behavior of egg protection by carrying eggs and wandering. After mating and laying eggs, she will fix the eggs to the abdomen with silk to protect them. According to reports, the white-fronted tall spider does not form a web, and lives by preying on cockroaches and moths, which plays a role in controlling insect pests.
The event culminates in a firefly-infested area. With the instruction of Teacher Season, all artificial light sources such as headlamps, flashlights, and mobile phones on the scene were collectively extinguished, and when you looked around, the stars and fireworks flashed in the forest, reflecting each other with the moonlight sprinkled in the forest. Several of the children who participated in the activity opened their arms and immersed themselves in this environment with fireflies.
During the night watch activity that lasted about two hours, Nandu reporters followed the night view team to discover arachnids (white-fronted tall spiders, crab spiders, Asian long-spinner spiders), tailless orders (black-eyed toads, ornamented frogs, flower narrow-mouthed frogs, swamp water frogs, spotted-legged flood tree frogs), bamboo elephants, red-eared plovers, fireflies and other organisms.
Provide valuable soil for nature education
For natural science courses such as summer camps in the park, Season said that these courses are to encourage children to enter nature, guide them to feel nature with their eyes, ears, nose and other senses, let them return to nature to grow, increase curiosity about nature, and improve concentration and exploration. "At the same time, after the South China Botanical Garden is upgraded to the South China National Botanical Garden, we will pay more attention to improving the function of science popularization and continue to vigorously carry out nature education courses."
Nandu reporter learned that since the official unveiling in July this year, with the improvement of science popularization functions, the South China National Botanical Garden will plan to build a Greater Bay Area and even an international first-class camp, carrying most of the functions of science popularization, mainly serving primary and secondary school students, parent-child families and middle-aged and elderly tourists in Guangzhou. For the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, it meets the needs of tourists of different ages.
Mei Zongyue, who participated in the "Naturalism on the Tip of the Tongue" summer camp, said that this is her second time to come to the South China National Botanical Garden, "My first time to the South China National Botanical Garden is also to participate in the summer camp. Last time I made ginger bump milk at summer camp and made a beautiful embossed fan out of petals. Today I know a lot of leaves, these fragrant leaves can be clipped in the book as a bookmark, I love plants, and I like to participate in such summer camps. ”
"With these popular science activities, the children's summer vacation is very different from previous years." Ms. Mo, who took her children to participate in the night viewing activities, said that the activities will take the children away from the "shackles" of air-conditioned rooms and electronic products, so that they can truly understand nature and enjoy the precious original ecological environment. "The science popularization education activities provided by the South China National Botanical Garden not only restore the real natural environment, but also provide professional explanations, which is a rare opportunity for nature education."
Writer: Nandu reporter Chen Zhuorui Intern Song Meiying Photo: Nandu reporter Chen Zhuorui Some of the pictures are provided by the South China National Botanical Garden