Project Leader: Lori Buffum
County: all
VMS opportunity: Education – informal
Each year, usually in the spring, our chapter participates in “family science nights” for local school districts. During these events, held in gymnasiums or cafetoriums, we set up a display of trifolds depicting lots of aspects of Texas nature. Then we have a Bingo/Scavenger Hunt game that kids and families can play for little prizes. Everyone has a good time finding the “answers” to as many of the questions as they can (clues or answers are on the trifold posters) and in addition to getting the prizes, they go home with an answer sheet so they can learn a bit more after the event. We have sometimes added the chapter’s Scat/Tracks display to our tables and everyone enjoys seeing and handling those plastic replicas from 10 common Texas mammals. The science nights are free and open to the public for the local area. We have participated with Bellville for several years and with Flatonia for 2 years. Volunteer qualifications? Just an enthusiasm for working with kids of all ages in a school gymnasium for a couple of hours.