Schedule for Summer 2004

Last Fall and Early Winter Programs   

Last Summer's Programs 

Frequently Asked Questions

Water Animals / Pond Dippers

Children who come to Water Animals or Pond Dippers hunt for (plastic) pond animals, watch live pond animals, and catch paper fish with magnetic fishing poles. Activities  Learn more about it

Activities

Activities took place near the pond rug that used to be adjacent to Great Outdoors.  They included:

• Go for a hike around the “pond” to capture plastic pond animals (variations for 2 years and up).  Learn more
     

• Look at live pond animals (all ages)  Learn more
    

• Use fishing poles and magnets to catch paper fish -- and then make your own fish (best for ages 4 and up)  Learn more
    

• Learn more about pond life on the World Wide Web.

Learn More About It

   Catch Plastic Pond Animals

The Great Outdoors exhibit includes a wonderful rug that's decorated to look like a pond.  If you hike around this "pond," you can find and capture plastic pond animals.  If you want, you can put them in a jar, keep them for awhile, and then release them back into the pond.  (variations for 2 years and up)

   Look at Live Pond Animals

You can look at plastic boxes and gallon jars filled with live pond animals, including tadpoles and frogs, insects, and crayfish.

   Catch and Make Paper Fish

If you use our fishing poles with magnets on the end, you can catch some paper fish.   Then you can make your own fish to catch.  (You can color them, cut them out, then put a paper clip on their mouths.)

Web sites with More Information about Pond Animals

Here's a "virtual" jar of water -- click on an animal and learn all about it:

  http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/ponddip/index.html 

  
These sites help you identify pond animals:

  http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/ 

  http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/critter/watercritter/aquatict.htm 

   
This site has lots more links to information about pond animals:

  http://eduscapes.com/42explore/pond.htm