Park Packs Revealed

I have been asked a few times about Park Packs, mentioned in this blog in March 2007. Here is a photo of the Geology Rocks Park Pack our family currently has. You can see that my older two kids immediately headed for the mineral collection. There are also books, activities with supplies, games, and crafts with supplies. My sister recommended this one to us. We just got it yesterday from the Polk Co. Conservation Board (PCCB) and get to keep it for two weeks. I love that check-out is free. We have always enjoyed our time with the park packs over the years. From the PCCB website:

10 Nature-Themed Backpacks Park Packs will get you hiking, investigating and learning about Iowa’s natural resources.

1. Animals of Iowa
Learn to identify animal tracks, feel furs, play a habitat game and sing the habitat song in this activity packed park pack.

2. Birds
Binoculars, field guide, bird identifier and fun birding activities are included in this park pack. Pack has been sponsored by the Des Moines Audubon Society.

3. Creatures of the Night
Bats, frog calls, firefly talk and owl calling are just some of the creature topics included in this park pack of the night.

4. Geology Rocks
Discover the different types of rocks in your local park or backyard. Make a chalk drawing or sand art picture. Find your favorite rock and make a fossil rub.

5. Insect Safari
Use the nets, bug cubes and insect field guide to discover the variety of insects in your backyard or local park. Learn to dance like a bee, create your own bug song, and build your very own bug.

6. Life in a Pond
Use the aquatic animal matching cards to discover the variety of animal life in the pond. Write water messages on stones, make the frog sounds of a wetland. Enjoy Billie B’s Romp in the swamp tape and boogie down to the beat!

7. Outdoor Skills
Practice your orienteering skills, take a hike and make your own map, learn how to tie a variety of knots, and learn important outdoor ethics.

8. Prairies
Listen to the sounds of the prairie, create prairie artistry, play a prairie camoflauge game, identify prairie plants and flowers.

9. Treeific Trees
Play the tree board game, measure the height and width of the largest tree in your area. Use the tree leaf stamps to create your own field guide, build a human tree and boogie down with Billie B as he sings about trees.

10. Wildflowers and Plants
Go on your own wildflower hunt with the field guide, make a leaf mprint with leaf pounding, read how to plant a rainbow and a sunflower house.

We have also used park packs from the City of West Des Moines, and they are filled with similar things -- books, crafts, etc. Some of the themes are the same, some are different. I have noticed that the Clive Public Library has back packs for check out in their children's area, but I am not sure what the themes and target ages are. My initial impression was that they are focused on early learning, ages 4 and under, but I could be completely wrong.

Free Stuff

I am all about free. This entry is about free (educational) stuff. This morning, my youngest and I went to the Polk County ISU Extension Office to get our area's gps kit for Friday's geocaching class. (The class is over-full, but we like home school parties.) We are using this kit free of charge, and it includes (from the extension website):

The kit includes the following:

*10 Garmin eTrex GPS Systems

*10 Brunton Compass

*10 Bullseye Compass

*Video “The ABC’s of Compass & Map”

*CD of Brunton Navigation Curriculum

*MapTech Software (Topographic Maps)

*Overhead Teaching Compass

*Brunton Navigation & Mapping Activities

*CD that includes: GPS Activities, GPS References, and Compass Activities

Cost of the Ready to Navigate with GPS! Kit is $1700.

Pretty jazzed about it all. Except that our thumbs hurt from entering the coords in to all the units. And one of the units has a bad crack in the glass.

I also received two identical kits from the Heartland AEA 11 office. I love the envelope of extra batteries that Heartland supplied. I was wondering what I should do if any batteries wore out. That almost evens out the difficulty that I have in working with Heartland and their resources.

So I have 30 gps receivers (gps-r's) at my house. I thought that I would have 2 gps-r's from Heartland, not 2 kits with ten units apiece. I think the Heartland AEA contact thought the same thing. The gal there told me that if I needed more gps-r's that I should "call the Extension, because they have ten identical units to ours, and it sounds like you need more than the two that we can supply." Can you imagine anyone carrying a large suitcase for only one gps-r? (thinking now of bomb-toting bad guys) Can you picture me carrying ten of those suitcases around?

Anyway, while I was waiting to talk with the Extension gal, I happened to pick up a brochure entitled Teaching Kits, Check Them Out! The brochure lists many kits with a large variety of topics for different ages, containing equipment, curricula, games, etc., either free or $1/week. I learned that anyone can check these kits out -- you do not need to be a 4-H leader (my former misconception). At Heartland, usage is very restricted, so the Extension may become my new BFF for learning about non-nature topics. For nature, I like the city (love that West Des Moines has a two week check-out period) and County Conservation Board's Park Packs. Free and fun stuff!!!

Moral of the story: if you need many gps-r's, you do not need to beg your friends and run around town collecting all of them. Just call your local Extension office. The people at our office were friendly and they want to see us use all of their stuff. Free stuff.