Kids Corner
Fun Activities For You And Your Children
Allen SWCD offers FREE programming to schools, organizations, clubs, and other community groups within Allen County. We have programs for every age group, from the tiniest Pre-K scientists to our friends in the retirement club, we would love to talk to you about the importance of our waterways!
Taking a hands on approach, we have found that when we let people perform an activity, they are more likely to remember it down the road. With that, we have created many fun activities to help get our messages across. If you do not see anything that fits a lesson you would like taught…reach out! Not all lessons are listed and many of these activities can be molded into different lessons and modified to fit any age group.
Contact us today to schedule a class visit or a field trip!
Activity – Freddie the Fish– Complete this activity to see where pollution comes from and how it affects wildlife.
Craft Activity – Cereal Box Aquarium– Create a healthy environment for your paper fish, with this fun craft.
New Word – Stormwater Runoff – After it rains, water travels over the ground to local bodies of water, like streams and rivers. If there are loose items on the ground, such as fertilizer, weed-killer, pet waste, trash, leaves, and oil, the water will pick these items up and carry them to the river. These items are very harmful to our water. By keeping these things off the ground, we can help keep our streams and rivers healthy!
Fun Fact – Storm drains are connected to the river. Anything entering storm drains will end up in the river, so remember – Only rain down the storm drain!
Papier-Mâché Bugs – Insects are very important to the ecosystem. They can be the primary food source for other animals. They are also very important to healthy soil.
Soil Erosion – Through this experiment, see if plants can really help reduce soil erosion. Soil erosion is the movement of soil pieces from one place to another. One of the main causes of soil erosion is water. It’s a problem because it causes the loss of our precious top soil, and it can harm plants and animals in local streams.
Soda Bottle Greenhouse – Grow real plants inside of a plastic soda bottle!
Fun Fact – It takes at least 100 years to make 1 inch of topsoil!
Crystal Tree – Grow a crystal tree, and observe how plants take up water and nutrients from the soil through a process called capillary action.
Pine Cone Bird Feeder– Make this bird feeder for birds living in the trees in your backyard!
Fun Fact – Trees can filter or remove harmful materials from the air we breath!
Pop Bottle Fish– Instead of throwing away your pop bottles, use them to make this fun decoration.
Fun Fact – Over 90% of the pollution that reaches our streams is non-point source pollution.
Click on the links below to learn more about forestry and conservation.
Forestry and Conservation for Kids
Tree Conservation
Tree Musketeers
