The John Heinz event consisted of various activities children of all ages could take part in. The theme and environment was nature loving. Our table connected migrating animals, butterflies and bats, with the environment . Children were able to visually depict this relation by decorating pre-made cut outs of bats with white chalk and origami styled butterflies with color pencils or markers. They then colored paper bugs for the bats and either colored pre-made cut outs of flowers or designed their own flower. Next, they glued the bug or flowers to the sticks connected to their animal. The ending product was described to them as pollination of the flower with help of butterflies and maintenance of the bug population from bats main food source, insects. Other facts were shared with the parents and their children regarding bats such as it being the only mammal to fly, their young ones being referred to as pups, which are hairless and blind, and how 9 species of bats live throughout North Eastern U.S while 2 southern species may live in Pennsylvania. They were described as unique because they have fingers like humans that are elongated and a part of their wings. Like bears they hibernate, like birds they migrate and like dolphins they use echolocation, ultrasonic sound through their mouths to locate objects. These characteristics made bats an interesting subject for the children to learn about.
