Earth Day at Museum of Natural Science

On Saturday, April 28th, I volunteered for 4hours at the Museum of Natural Science for their annual Earth Day celebration. There were many booths set up for Earth Day, and they all had to do with the history of the Earth, recycling, and preserving Earth's resources. There was a really interesting booth about how water is naturally filtered through layers of dirt and rocks and eventually becomes safe to drink. There were also all sorts of booths about how to make art projects by using only recycled items. After seeing many interesting booths, I was a little disappointed when I got assigned the booth about Native American Pottery. Despite my initial disappointment, I did end up learning a lot of interesting facts about how the pots were made from clay, baked, and sanded with dried corn cobs. I learned alot about the pottery itself, but my favorite part of the day was when the museum opened and the kids came to the booth and I got to teach all the little kids about the pots and help them paint their own pots. The enthusiasm of all the kids was truly contagious and before I knew it, I was having just as much fun as they were! There was one little girl in particular, named Julianne, who took a liking to me and asked me all sorts of questions about the pots. I was amazed at how smart she was, for a 4 year-old, and how dedicated and creative she was with her pot. She must have spent 20min painting her pot while talking to me about her school and her friends. I was elated when she asked me if I could come over to her house when I was done teaching people about pots. :)  By the end of the day I had learned about Native American pottery, but most importantly, I learned that working with kids can be extremely gratifying if you just allow yourself to be susceptible to their enthusiasm.