In North Bay, some young children are learning some important lessons and skills this week.
They’re attending a summer camp where they are taught about nature and the importance of protecting the environment.
The Canadian Ecology Centre and the local conservation authority have teamed up all summer for what's called the Eco-Kids Camp.
From fire safety to identifying the frogs and turtles in our region, children in the eco-camp are learning survival techniques and about the environment.
Valerie Godin is the coordinator for The Canadian Ecology Centre summer camp.
"Concepts that may seem a little bit more complicated you can make it into kid friendly ways and show them with their hands what it's like." said Godin.
The young campers range from five to eight years old.
Different outdoor activities fill the day's schedule from science experiments and hikes to wilderness survival training.
In one experiment, the students build mountains out of sand to see if they can sustain a bucket of water. It's an exercise to teach the students about erosion and when a structure is destroyed by nature.
"This is our last camp. We've done six camps over the summer. We've had five here and we've had one up at our ecology camp that was a sleep-away camp as well." said Godin.
With the fire ban still in place due to forest fires burning in our region, the campers are also taught about fire safety and how to identify different ways a fire can be started.
Isaac Tocisoc is a camp participant.
"Lighting a match and another way is rubbing two sticks together. Another one is where you get glass and a light shines on the glass and it reflects on the ground." said Tocisoc.
The campers say they've learned a lot about different ecosystems in the north.
Rone Davel is also a camp participant.
"And how long you can live without food and we've been learning about frogs." said Davel.
"They're also really, really hard to catch and when we went to go catch them around the pond we went to the ickiest and muddiest parts that are there." said camper Owen Fletcher.
The camp will end this Friday before starting up again next summer.
