A child’s behavior can suffer from an absence of the outdoors. This became an increasing issue during the coronavirus pandemic and the months following as quarantining, isolation, and virtual learning led individuals to stay indoors more often. Nature-Deficit Disorder, coined by Richard Louv in 2005, “is a nonmedical condition that attributes behavioral changes in children to less time spent outdoors”. (https://parentology.com/what-is-nature-deficit-disorder/)

To provide additional learning opportunities in an outdoor setting, 4-H worked with the Casey County public school system and 4^th grade teachers to implement an environmental education day camp. 4-H Environmental Education Camps provides hands-on education focusing on natural resources held at Kentucky 4-H Camps. 

Through coordination with Casey County’s three public elementary schools, all 4^th grade students participated in a Lake Cumberland 4-H Environmental Education Day Camp in the spring of 2022. The agent worked closely with the teachers to receive paperwork and parental permission of the students to participate. The teachers assisted in collecting artwork from the students for a shirt design contest for the event. The classrooms voted on the designs with the winning design being printed on shirts provided to the participants and the winning designer receiving a full scholarship to attend 4-H Camp. 

School buses were arranged for the transportation to and from camp as well as a sack lunch (from the school’s cafeteria) for each student. Camp provided a lunch for each instructor, teacher, assistant, bus driver, and teen leader. Each participant was provided a water bottle, drawstring bag, and a name tag along with a bandana representing their team color. Teachers, assistants, and teen leaders were assigned to the teams to provide supervision as well as help navigate to the various classes. Teams learned about birds of prey from Liberty Nature Center, learned about reptiles from the Kentucky Reptile Zoo, learned about mammals and observations in the woods, and well as worked together on challenge course obstacles. A grant for a total of $4,000 was awarded assisting with the cost of the camp, instructors and t-shirts for the campers and teachers. A total of 170 individuals participated in the program. 

We plan to implement this program again next year with the possibility of coordinating an overnight event.