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GARNA and Boys & Girls Club of Chaffee County are working together to offer Natural Kids, a series of nature-based experiential learning sessions designed to foster environmental stewardship in our Upper Arkansas River Valley community.
This session will offer activities that involve learning about animals, the six questions of tracking, questioning, and following mysteries. These activities have the potential to turn on the tracker inside, to unleash the curiosity-driven questioner who pushes learning as far as possible and hunts down solutions to mysteries. These activities get the ball rolling towards an insatiable appetite for learning. The presenter this week will be Kate Spinelli, GARNA youth coordinator and Leah Sanchez, AmeriCorps VISTA BGC Salida.
Registration is required. Please contact Kelly Hamilton for information on registration at 719 539 9500.
To encourage stewardship through a feeling of connection to the natural world, the program will use the Children & Nature Network Natural Families and Family Nature Clubs Models as a framework for programs at local Boys & Girls Clubs. For more on the theme of this initiative, please see childrenandnature.
Natural Kids will be held at the Boys & Girls Clubs in both Salida and Buena Vista. The program will include 6 sessions, offered once per month for 6 months between November and April. Children do not need to attend all sessions to participate.
The sessions build from an introduction to sensory awareness activities in nature with the purpose of building a platform for more deeply experiencing and connecting personally to nature, then expand to teaching skills needed to be comfortable, confident and safe stewards and outdoor recreators. Later sessions will offer hands-on stewardship learning activities, culminating in the invitation for families to join their Natural Kids to forge relationships to one another through a Natural Families Nature Club, a community-driven group that gets out in nature together.
The Children & Nature Network describes the reasons for this initiative: “Families are direct decision makers in the lives of children and must be at the forefront of the movement to get kids and families out into the natural world. The Natural Families Network engages thousands of parents and families from across the country and around the world in frequent, active time together in the natural world. Groups of families organized into Family Nature Clubs help to break down barriers to getting out in nature, bringing together families from diverse cultures and backgrounds, and across generations. Family Nature Clubs also foster quality time together with family and friends.”
Many GARNA programs require a Liability Release Form be filled out each calendar year.
Your registration is secured upon receipt of payment, as long as there space is still available in a program. If you prefer not to register online (recommended), you may mail a check, made out to “GARNA” to the address below or stop by the office. Please include a note with the program you are registering for. Be aware, some programs sell out quickly, and we cannot confirm your spot with a mailed registration.
PO Box 1522
Salida CO 81201
Cancellation policy:
If we are notified of your need to cancel by 24 hours of program date, your program fee will be refunded except for a $3.00 administrative fee. No refunds within 24 hours or after the event (but most events are transferable). If minimum enrollment has not been met 2 days before program date, programs will be cancelled and we will refund the full amount.
