Date: Friday, March 10th, 2017
Time: 9:00 am – 2:00 pm
Location: Lost Dog Wash Trailhead – Kovack Family Nature Trail
Here is a video about last years event
Getting kids interested in science can be as easy as going to their own back yard. A field trip to the Sonoran Desert is right outside.
The Junior Citizens Science Festival teaches kids about the Sonoran Dessert. Monica Tluczek, McDowell Sonoran Field Institute, explains the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy is a non-profit working with the City of Scottsdale to manage and maintain the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.
Here is a list of offerings available this year – including us!!
| Activity | Interactive component |
| The Mighty Saguaro | Children learn about the Saguaro cactus and by handling different parts of the saguaro and measuring themselves against a Saguaro cut-out, thus calculating their age “if they were a saguaro”. |
| Edible/medicinal plants | Common Sonoran Desert plants are on display for kids to touch, smell, pound into flour, make into paint brushes. Along the way they learn how desert plants sustained people as food and medicine. |
| Archaeology in the desert | How do archaeologists find artifacts? In this activity kids dig for artifacts in boxes and guess which ones are real. |
| Packrats – architects of the desert | Kids learn about pack-rats, their nocturnal habits, and their amazing homes by handling pieces of midden and viewing a real packrat nest from the trail. |
| What’s that animal? | The Arizona Game and Fish Department is on hand to show kids animal furs, pelts, skulls, and other bones which they can touch, compare, and learn to identify. |
| Birds and their nests | Children learn to identify the common desert bird nests by playing a matching game! |
| Herp Herp Horay! | Kids get a chance to pet some real desert reptiles, and learn about these amazing creatures in the process! |
| Let’s go on a scat-venger hunt! | What do you do when you don’t see animals around? Look for scat! At this table kids match all kinds of desert critters with their scat. |
| Arthropods among us! | Kids use magnifying glass to explore the insect specimens and learn how insects are important to the desert. |
| Rocks Talk! | Kids get a chance to learn about the common rock types in the Preserve, and play with some magnetic sand. |
| Liberty Wildlife – birds | Live raptors are on display for kids to see and ask questions about. |
| Sensing the desert | The younger children learn how to use their senses to explore the desert, by smelling creosote plants, popping a balloon on a cactus, and listening to the call of birds. |
| COX technology table (?) | Kids bring special coloring pages to life through an app that lets them see their creations move and interact in 3D. |
| River of Time Museum | Kids learn about the history and pre-history of the Preserve by handling and using real artifacts. |
| Conservation table | Various conservation activities – kids sign “contract” to promise to be good stewards of the earth (recycle, conserve water, etc). |
| Butterflies of the Preserve | Kids learn about butterflies through a display that shows the life cycle of a Desert Swallowtail, and also learn about how to protect butterfly habitat. |
| What’s the buzz? | This interactive display teaches kids about the importance of pollinators. |
| EcoListen | Kids will use a virtual reality helmet to experience the sights and sounds of other locations on the Preserve – showing the power of technology to share the experience of nature. |
| CAP LTER | Kids will learn about temperatures of natural and built surfaces as they relate to air temperatures in microclimates and throughout the Valley. |