Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
It's the first year the Jasper Yellowhead Museum has offered summer camps and judging by the almost-full registration each week throughout the summer, they're a hit.
Nowreen Haque, exhibits coordinator, programming, said summer camps are something she and museum manager Rob Hubick have been thinking about for a while.
"We've got the space and we've got history, so it felt like a good fit," she said.
"A lot of our weeks are almost full already, with one or two spaces left, except for one.
鈥淚 think the kids really like it. We're getting people who've been stuck at home, people who moved to Jasper and needed a place for their kids to go to and meet other kids.
鈥淚t's been fun. The community has been really great."
Megan Warren and Rae-anne Ziegenhagel, camp leaders, have helped Haque run the camps, along with Tamara Buck.
And in addition to the classroom part, kids get to have fun outdoors too.
The first camp was called Trains, Planes and Automobiles and ran from July 6 to 10.
"We talked about cars, how they're different, how they've changed our lives," Haque said.
"We showed them old cars, including really old electric cars.鈥�
Haque said those electric cars were seen as the 'no oil' option for women, who, at the time, wore long dresses and tall hats.聽
The last day was spent with archivist Karen Byers, who showed the kids artifacts and taught them about Jasper's old airport - the airstrip between Jasper and Hinton.
Kids also got a tour of Spirit Island, provided by Pursuit.
During the second camp, Geology Rox, kids looked at rocks and their formation and made fossils out of flour, along with geodes and rock candy.
And during week three, Jurassic Planet, kids will make more fossils and learn about other forms such as coral and amber and other kinds of archeology. A group bike ride is planned and the week will finish with a set-up excavation of the fossils and ambers the group made earlier.
Other themes coming up are Flora and Fauna, which will focus on plant life and animals in the area, Trading: A Blast from the Past, where kids will learn about what life was like 100 years ago, and Superheroes.
Hague said that week will feature mythical heroes - some famous, such as Spiderman, and daily heroes like doctors and firefighters.
Also coming up is Lights, Camera, Action!, where kids will be taught about what goes into media production, and Magic and Mystery, where kids will brew their own 'potions'.
The summer camp sponsors are TGP (who gives a discount on supplies), 3 Sheets Jasper Inc., Jasper Raft Tours, Pursuit (who supplies the Maligne Lake tours) and Wildcurrent Outfitters. "Every week they take us and the kids out for a raft tour at a discount," Haque said. "Three Sheets has been great; they provide file folders, pencils, markers, paint, anything the kids need for crafts, at a cost."
The camps cost $250 a week, per child, and there is a limit of eight children per camp, but if you are a member of the museum there are discounts available.
