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Winter Family Fun Night at Nara Nature Center & Park

Winter Family Fun Event at Nara Nature Center & Park

A Winter Family Fun Night was held at the Nara Nature Center & Park last night, coordinated by the Western U.P. Math & Science Center and Michigan Tech Center for Science & Environmental Outreach. The event offered two sessions: ornament-making at the chalet with natural materials collected from nature, and a snowshoe hike on the Nara trails.

Inside the chalet, the kids made ornaments with the bark of downed birch trees. They could also decorate the ornaments with small pine cones, grass, cedar and spruce, among other things.

"We collected a lot of natural materials like sticks, acorns, seeds, berries, and more," said Americorps volunteer Beth Squires. "They get to use their creativity to make different nature ornaments."

Kalani Triana-Juntunen, 8, of Hancock was decorating a star ornament with shells. "It's cool," he said. "You get to make decorations on them."

Participants also went on a 40-minute moonlight hike to investigate the night sky and adaptations of wildlife. Many of the hikers wore snowshoes provided through a $2500 Keweenaw Community Foundation grant.

Brent Peterson's son was intrigued to discover that rubbing two pieces of quartz rock together caused the rock to glow. He's determined to find his own quartz now.

The group listened for owls, looked for wildlife tracks and sign, and admired the full moon high in the sky.

Jennifer Eikenberry of Hancock came with her son Corbin, 5.
"We like to go snowshoeing," she said. "And my son loves to make crafts, so that will be fun."

This was the first Family Fun night at the Nara Nature Center, but there are plans for more.

Winter Family Fun Night aired on TV6 newscast on Dec.12, 2011: CLICK HERE