Discovery Island program results have been summed up
This year, the Primorsky Aquarium launched the first summer camp program, Discovery Island, for 7- to 10-year-old children. The program was offered in two sessions: 4-19 July and 20 July to 4 August on Tuesdays through Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The first session has recently finished. A team of eight kids, who explored the island while assuming roles of researchers, were absolutely excited by the activities and setting.
“Each day of this summer program has a different theme related to Russky Island. We use a variety of activities to make the program more fun and interesting. We invite experts to teach about different careers and to run tours for our young participants, both in the exhibits and over the grounds of the Primorsky Aquarium. Discovery Island has turned out to be full of real discoveries for kids!” told us Irina Vaschenko, Principal Specialist of the Education Department.
Children explored Russky Island and its plants, conducted paleontological research, took a tour of military forts, collected plankton samples and examined them under a microscope.
“An idea to create a summer program emerged long ago, but only this year the conditions were ripe for implementing it. The first session went perfectly. We received lots of enthusiastic reviews both from children and their parents. This encourages us to organize the program next year, too. We want to develop several sessions for two age groups,” said Ekaterina Raevskaya, Senior Specialist of the Education Department.
Though children were of different ages, educators did their best to engage everyone.
“Even summer holiday time cannot stop curious minds who dig deep into science from their early years, and we managed to create the perfect learning environment for them,” added Irina Vaschenko.