General News: City Kids Explore Nature in Cornwall
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| Nature museum educator Vicky Rubio shows the children a box turtle. |
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| The children took a walk in the woods to look for animal tracks. |
February 05, 2012
By Charlie B. Scirbona
A group from the Newburgh Boys and Girls Club got an unexpected treat recently when they left the city to spend a little time with nature.
“We just surprised them with it,” said Boys and Girls Club Counselor Manny Wells.
The kids spent an hour on a Friday afternoon in late January at the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum in Cornwall learning a little bit about box turtles and taking a short hike into the woods outside.
The program might have been a surprise for the kids, however the program has been in the works awhile, according to Judy Onufer, director of education for the museum. She explained that a few months ago the museum contacted the Boys and Girls club to create some kind of partnership. What developed is a new five-week program that will introduce the kids to a different animal each week.
Friday’s animal was a box turtle, one of the many live animals from the area at the nature museum. One neat fact they learned is that you can tell by the creature’s eye color whether it’s male or female (red eyes for males, brown for females).
The kids also got to take a quick hike where they listened for signs of nearby animals and learned about the kind of tracks animals make in the dirt. Onufer said that she hoped that the program will expand after the initial five week run.
Vicki Rubio, an educator at the museum who taught the kids about the box turtle and led them on their hike, thought the kids really took to the idea.
“It was great, you could see they were so excited to be outside and away from their normal environment,” said Rubio.
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