Squeaky Clean Environment

A picture of the moon jelly I spotted
in the channel!

Friday's at the museum are great days to work on your fishing skills and becoming patient. This Friday was a long day at the Children's Museum, filled with fishing and the touch tank filled with green crabs. We had many young children from the ages 7 years and under excited to fish with us on the dock. Every now and then we had them pulling up crabs and adding to our touch tank. They got super creative with me and added beautiful art on the walkway. As we fished I spotted a moon jelly in the water, it was super small and didn't do much but the sight of it was enough to get the kids bubbling.

They also took notice of its small amount of movement, and also oil in the water which lead to me explain to them how important it is to throw away our trash, recycle, and not litter into the harbor.

Our colorful decorations
on the Children's Museum
pier!

Adding to that, this Monday at Community Boating on the Charles we helped clean up trash around the area. Much like our harbor, it has been dramatically changed to help better the environment and provide activities to young children and adults alike to participate in on the river. The river used to be heavily polluted due to dumping in the Charles from the growing city around it. We assisted our site partner, Molly, with her environmental class to test the pH of the water, salt content, visibility and more. Then we walked along the river searching for trash and cleaning it up. On the way we spotted a baby turtle, some fish, and ducks swimming happily in the river. 

All Summer 17

-Khar

The Harbor is Alive! (And Clean!)

This week, we had a small group of older elementary school-aged children come see us at Carson Beach. They wanted a chance to learn about the beach, the harbor, and to be able to participate in some of the activities that we offer as well! Their group was focusing on civic engagement and natural science, something they hoped we'd be able to tie in with. I was super excited to be able to share some of the knowledge I have not only about Carson Beach specifically, but about the Boston Harbor overall.

Here I am giving a little spiel about the harbor; I started by asking how many of them had been to this beach before. When not many hands were raised, I asked how many think they would swim in this water. I went on to declare that Carson Beach is one of the cleanest urban beaches in the entire country. When I talked about beaches in California, Florida and Hawaii not being as clean, both children and counsellors' faces were shocked. It was amazing to be able to share this information and be able to visibly see that it was actually being processed.

After we discussed the importance of keeping our beaches clean, so that we can use both water and sand, we went on to play some games on the beach and create some art on the shore. We attempted sand raking, but unfortunately the tide was only starting to move out and expose the perfect damp sand.

So, a small group and I worked on filling up buckets of water and pouring it on the sand in order to make our own wet sand for creating sand art! Also, I introduced some of the children to periwinkles, and my friend Elijah here because quickly interested and enthralled by them. Overall, it was an amazing day and the same group will actually be returning tomorrow for more fun. Can't wait to see what else the beach has in store for all of us!

Until then,

Bridget M.