With their short-attention spans snapped suddenly into focus, young campers at Dickinson Park watched a stream of water wash through an imaginary town. Nestled in sand filling a large tray were thimble-sized plastic houses quickly toppled by rushing water. Students with their heads huddled together to see the demonstration listened as instructor Christopher Eide explained the negative results of stormwater runoff and pollution.

Offered through the Parks and Recreation summer camp programming and funded in part by Aquarion Water, Mr Eide provided a series of courses for various ages to study the watershed, collect macroinvertebrates from the stream running through the park, and understand pollution and the environment.

For the younger group of students gathered on Wednesday, June 29, seeing the replica of heavy rain was on the agenda.

Before he disturbed the miniature town in the sandbox, he held a cup of water over one corner. "Let's see what happens," he said, and poured the cup into the sand. Water pooled and formed a lake, while streaming past houses in other places.

Mr Eide then told them about pollution. "People have things that they dump places on the road," he said. "Where does it go then?" he asked. Students shouted answers including, "to sewers," "to streams," and "to the ocean."

Learn more about the summer camp schedule and fees at newtown-ct.gov or by calling 203-270-4340.

Registration is still open for coming weeks of camps offered at both Treadwell and Dickinson Parks.