Science and fun camp was the final camp of the summer offered by the City of Riverbank’s Parks and Recreation Department. The weeklong camp had 40 campers between the ages of 6 to 12 years old, along with five Camp Leaders and a whole week of experiments, crafts, swimming, and lots of fun.
The young camp participants came from all over the Central Valley area including Riverbank, Oakdale, Turlock, Ceres and Modesto.
Each day started out with a few experiments like elephant toothpaste, color changing celery, slime, and ice cream, with kids getting hands-on experience in the science lesson.
The elephant toothpaste was a hit among the kids which included dish soap, food coloring, and hydrogen peroxide that made the mixture.
In an attempt to change the color of a celery stick and a few white carnations the youngsters took some water and added food coloring to it.
Campers enjoyed an ice cream experiment on Thursday and had to use a few ingredients like milk, rock salt and hand churning. According to staff, the kids really enjoyed the ice cream experiment especially because they were able to eat it once they worked hard to make it.
“The first few ones just tasted like milk,” said Parks and Recreation Specialist Stephanie Argumedo. “By the time we got to the seventh or eighth one they started tasting better.”
The kids were challenged with building a solar robot and helicopter which they had instructions to follow that once completed were set in the sun to charge up.
In the middle of the day after lunch the youngsters changed into their swimsuits and made their way to the community pool for a few hours of swimming, which was just perfect for the temperatures in the high 90s that greeted them most days over the past week.
After the time at the pool the kids headed back to the nearby Teen Center to play a few more games until the end of the day.
“It is really good that parents are getting them into these programs instead of just having them at home (during the summer),” added Argumedo. “I like doing camps; it keeps me busy during summer and I like working with the kids.”
The campers all received a camp T-shirt and got to take their crafts and experiments home.
Along with a full day of activities the weeklong Science and Fun Camp allowed the kids to socialize, make new friends, and create some long-lasting memories as well.
