your funding for kid vision mission is brought to you in part by the Children's Services Council of Broward County supports Kid Vision and public television we are dedicated to enriching children's lives and empowering them to become responsible and productive adults it's time for a field [Music] trip and shiny too helping friends with what they do we're on a vision mission with [Music] you learning about nature Miss Penny oh hi Kid Vision kids welcome to the Kid Vision playroom I'm happy to see you I'm thinking a lot about nature today so I thought I'd take a pretend robo ride for exercise this morning it's really fun kid Vision kids I have a good idea let's use our imagination and you get in your row boat too and we'll do our stretches rowing boats together are you ready yes get in your boat but remember we're on the water so you have to be very careful as you get in roll roll roll your boat gently down the stream merely merely merely merely life is but a dream wo let's take a look around and see what we see use your imagination I see a duck h and a fish let's look all around using our binoculars if you don't have binoc you can use your fingers and use them to look around what do you see I see a water lily with oh my gosh there's a huge huge cat hanging out on the water lily and there's an alley here keep Shing your boat let's go let's go fast and faster ready sing with me roll roll roll your boat gently down the stream merely merely merely merely life is but a dream W good job we have a phone call let's see who it is who will be calling us today it's Jean an environmental Advocate hi Jean hi Miss penny I'm at Everglades National Park right now and I'm giving an airbo tour later this afternoon with my friend Houston that is so cool it is it is and I was actually calling to invite you you see we would love your help to spread the word about the importance of the Everglades and learn more about the mikasuki community that would be wonderful we would love to go on an airboat ride in the Everglades great see you soon miss Penny great see you soon bye kid Vis and kids it's time for a k mission [Music] welcome to the Florida Everglades the Everglades is an important home to many plants animals and people in South Florida let's go learn all about it with my friends Houston and Jean who are Everglades Advocates this means they work hard to support and protect the Everglades hi everybody I'm glad you made it to the Everglades we have a lot of things to share with you today but before we go on the boat ride I wanted to get to know you a little bit better so if you can shake the Rattle and tell me your name and then we'll go around the circle my name is Houston what's your name Kenny my Jean Aurora welcome welcome guys so today we're going to take an awesome airbo trip through the River of Grass are you ready to go on an airboat ride yeah let's go [Music] woohoo riding an airbud is one of the best ways to explore the Everglades we'll learn more about this special ecosystem and the people that live here as we make some more stops here we go first Houston will teach us about some of the people who the Everglades is home to Houston is a member of the mikazuki community that lives here the mikasuki tribe of Indians of Florida is an indigenous community in South Florida the mikasuki are deeply connected to the Everglades and have their own culture indigenous people are the first people to be living in a place each indigenous Community has their own culture languages laws and spiritual beliefs that are passed down through generations so I wanted to take you to different places in the Everglades to show you why it so important to the mikasuki um my family the mikasuki community we love the Everglades because this place provides us our food um the different plants and the different trees we can make our houses from it you know that there's some people that live in the city and then there's some people like me who live in the Everglades so I wanted to come and bring you to this tree island and show you some of the houses that the mikasuki people live so what's the tree island thank you thank you for asking um here in the Everglades a tree island is basically a collection of trees and bushes and grass that rises up out of the water so it's a place that's dry that you can walk around because other areas and the Everglades are wet and muddy so these are the dry areas so you can take a look around and you see the little different houses here on the island they're called cheekies say cheekies Che that's the mikasuki word for house cheeky cheeky all right so yeah you can look around the island and see the different cheekies and these are the kind of houses that the mikasuki people live how many people are in the family oh wow okay so we have big families that live on the island we have Grandma and Grandpa and then all their children and all their great grandchildren so you can have a lot of people living on an island we have a bigger idea of family when we think about family it's not just Mom and Dad it's Mom and Dad and aunties and uncles Grandma and Grandpa living together so when we think about family it's a big family so I wanted to bring you here so that you can see what one of the tree Islands looks like these tree islands are where the mikasuki people have their Villages and we live in little houses like these so some of the houses we use for cooking others we use for getting together and eating like a dining area and then other ones we put our blankets and our pillows and we go to sleep there at night so it's really nice to come camping here you can see see the stars very clear at night and so we're doing our best to protect the tree Islands the tree islands are a place where all the birds and the animals and the people live so it's actually a place that does so much for all the animals and people that live in the Everglades I wanted to show you these houses because that way you can see our connection with the Everglades the roof the legs of the cheekies and even the boardwalk are all made from trees that you can find here in the Everglades so you see if the Everglades is healthy that means that we can have a healthy way of life here in the mikasuki world that's really interesting one of the unique things about the everglaze ecosystems is that everything is connected an ecosystem is an environment where living things like plants and animals interact with non-living things like water and soil remember children some of the reasons that the Everglades is so important is that it's home to H hundreds of plants and animals as well as it provides all the drinking water for our cities and towns here in South Florida that it keeps our drinking water fresh see every time it rains the water goes down into our aquifer which is where we get our water from so it's important that the rains recharge the Everglades and recharge our drinking water supply [Music] [Music] I wanted to bring you to this special Island so I can introduce you to some of our little friends that live here in the Everglades so let's go say hello so Gan I wanted to know what's this animal that you're holding it looks so strange what is that well Houston this is one of our little friends that live here in this island that live here in the everglaze this is a little baby American alligator wow that's so beautiful get this hand hold them here and then just gently hold them you could hold them there so he won't eye eye to eye yeah and look he looks like he has a cute little smile just like all of you right here Cody now your turn give me one hand here look I can help him no mommy Cody can do it now with this other hand there you go Cody this is these are one of our little friends and one of our South Florida species that is a good representation of our ecosystem of where we live and of course the Everglades there's no one interesting fact that in the Everglades is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles actually live together remember guys the Everglades is home to hundreds of animals and plant species okay and it's it's important that we take care of them so that kids in the future will also have a chance to come and experience the Everglades and the animals that live in here as [Music] well this is why it's important to take care of our environment and the Everglades and remember if we continue to take care of Mother Earth Mother Earth will continue to take care of us that's right thank you Houston and jeene for teaching us about the Everglades and the mikazuki community it has been amazing to learn about what Everglades Advocates like you [Music] do FID Vision kids the Everglades was so cool we went on an airboat ride we saw an alligator we had a great time you know what we learned a lot of new words come with me to the Kid Vision classroom and let's check them out put on your thinking caps it's time to learn a new word ecosystem an ecosystem is an environment where living things like plants and animals interact with non-living things like water and soil examples include the ocean a forest and the Everglades what was that word ecosystem good job Everglades the Everglades is a unique ecosystem and an important home home to many plants animals and people in South Florida there is no other place like it on Earth what was that word ever good job indigenous people indigenous people are the first people to be living in a place each indigenous Community has their own culture languages laws and spiritual beliefs that are passed down through generations what was that word indigenous people good job mikasuki the mikasuki tribe of Indians of Florida is an indigenous community in South Florida the mikasuki are deeply connected to the Everglades and have their own culture what was that word mik sui good job wow Kid Vision kids I see you this is a pair of binoculars binoculars are tools that you can use to see things very far away very clearly they're really fun to use we saw so many amazing things on our airboat ride today I know let's play a game Let's Play I spy with my kid vision eye I'll use my binoculars and look around the playroom and I'll just describe something that's from nature and you guess what it is are you ready yes oh I see something I spy with my kid Vision ey something that's green it's a reptile and it swims can you guess what it is all right I'll give you one other clue it has strong legs webbed feet and a strong tail oh and it has razor sharp teeth can you guess what it is alligator that's right it's an alligator let's keep playing I spy with my kid Vision ey I'm going to use my binoculars and look around let's see what I Spy o I spy something yellow can you guess what it is shiny you're yellow but you're not what I Spy I Spy something that's yellow and hot and it's in the day sky can you guess what it is sun it's the sun the sun is billions of years old and it's what keeps this world going good job good Vision kids do you know another cool place where it rains all the time it's a very important ecosystem just like the Everglades is we're going to the rainforest we're going on a Kion mission [Music] hi hi good morning good morning I'm Miss Penny and these are the Kid Vision kids and we're here today to find out about the rainforest well welcome you guys are in the perfect place in fact this is the only Garden in the United States where we can grow a rainforest outside raise your hand if you think the rainforest is important perfect everybody take a deep breath in and out all of this amazing air that you're breathing these trees are constantly making for us and in the rainforest we have a lot of trees in fact we sometimes call the rainforest the lungs of the Earth because they're making air for us all the time plus we've got lots of different plants lots of different animals that live in the rainforest so do you think that might be pretty important to learn about yeah excellent well let's go Ray come on [Music] [Applause] [Music] kids all right so we are going to look at some leaves now so what is one thing you notice right here about this plant yes sir it's shaped like a heart it's shaped like a heart right did everybody notice that right away yeah this plant is shaped like a heart for a reason so we're talking about the rain forest so what do you think we have a lot of in the rainforest rain we have lots of rain in the rainforest so imagine you're a plant and you're getting hit and hit and hit with rain right imagine your hand was a leaf and take your other hand and be the rain coming down and you're hitting it over and over and over again right what's going to happen it might break if you're a leaf so I am going to be the rain and see if you can observe what happens to the water as it's hitting this Leaf the water is actually coming down and it's going down towards the plant's Roots this is called a drip tip because off of this tip the water drips perfect do you guys want to go on a plant scavenger hunt to see if you can find some plants in the rainforest all right let's go [Music] [Music] let's build a plant I'll tell you the job of each plant part and you guess what it is what helps anchor the plant in the ground drinks water and gets nutrients from the soil Roots what part holds the plant up and helps move water and nutrients to different parts of the plant stem what part uses sunlight water and air to make the plants food leaves what part is bright smells good and attracts pollinators like bees and butterflies flower the next two parts go together what grows new plants if you put it in the ground a seed seed what part hugs around the seed to protect it a fruit good job so in the rainforest there are actually four different layers so way down here at the forest floor everybody go down way down to the forest floor way down to the forest floor down at the forest floor it's very dark and there's not a lot of sunshine there's not even a lot of rain down here cuz we're so far down now as you start to grow up start to grow up a little bit in the under story layer you start to have a little more space and you have a lot of bugs flying around you have some birds and bats but there's still not a lot going on cuz it's so dark down here but start to stretch out a little bit in the canopy layer that's where most of your animals are going to live that's where you see your monkeys and your birds and all sorts of good stuff you're getting a little more sunlight and then stretch up all the way up to the emergent layer that's the one that sticks way way out at the top stretch as big as you can can up to the emergent layer up there there's a lot of rain there's a lot of sunshine there's a lot of wind the only things that really like it up here are the big birds like Hawks because it's very open so they can fly up here and these layers it's actually pretty crowded because all of these plants want to live together I have some animals here who have gotten kind of lost do you guys think you can help me find which layer of the rainforest these animals live at excellent excellent all right so what do we have up first oh where are those ants going to go where do you think um the for FL yeah down here on the forest floor excellent and what else do you have oh let's see we have a frog frog so where's that going to live can exactly right here where he's got enough space to kind of climb around oo and where's that aoui going to go it's kind of like a big rat go on the on the fourth floor perfect and this beautiful frog exactly our frogs are going to live together in the middle next up our tapier where's he going to live perfect right down here on the ground with the AI and the Beautiful maau where does he want to fly perfect right there kind of in between the canopy and the emergent layer wonderful ooh and where's that monkey going to go perfect and that beautiful bird the ketle yeah let's give him some space to fly right up here and last but definitely not least where's that emerald tree boa going to go perfect where it might even be able to eat those frogs and last but not least the harpy eagle he going to live way up here oh so he has plenty of space to fly great job guys give yourselves a round of applause everybody has a different home and we've got animals that live in every single layer of our rainforest isn't that amazing oh at the very bottom of our forest floor we have some very special creatures our decomposers and we even have one down here right now already our ants who are starting to gather up all of those Dead Leaves so we are going to go meet some of the amazing decomposers who live at the forest floor you guys want to meet some decomposers yes all right let's go all right so a decomposer is kind of like the garbage man of the rainforest they take all of the Dead Leaves and debris on the forest floor and they turn them into that wonderful rich soil that all of these plants then use to grow big and strong some decomposers are insects but not all decomposers are insects one of my favorite decomposers is the mushroom so fungus is not an insect but it's a great decomposer but there are a lot of insect decomposers that we're going to find here so snails ants worms millipedes pill bugs grubs slugs beetles spiders they're all very important on this forest floor [Music] bye put on your thinking caps it's time to learn a new word decomposer a decompos composer is a bug or fungus that turns dead leaves into rich soil what was that word decomposer good job leaf a leaf is a part of a plant it uses sunlight water and air to make the plants food what was that word Leaf good job plant a plant is a living thing that grows in the ground and needs sun Water and Air to grow what was that word plant good job rainforest rainforests are forests that grow in tropical climates with warm weather and consistent rain what was that word rainforest good job hi K Vision kids today we have two very special guests with us we have Chase who is a reptile expert and his chameleon hi Miss Penny hi Kid Vision kids uh I heard you guys were learning about rainforest and the animals that live in them and uh I decided to bring my friend Adore by so this is a veiled chameleon and his name is adore adore yes they have uh kind of grasping feet only uh chameleons and birds have this type of foot where they have three toes on one side and two on the other Chans also have uh two free roaming eyes so they can be looking almost a 360 degree uh view from where they're at that's wonderful and what do they eat uh they eat all sorts of things so they go for worms uh crickets and they also are known to eat uh leaves off of trees in their natural habitat uh although at home we can just use lettuce what kind of habitat do you have for him at home communion like to live in the branches of trees and along Vines uh so we have a cage that kind of mimics that at home uh it has heating lights as well as misters because chameleons don't drink out a water bowl wow is he a climber he's very much a climber you can just hold your hand out and he'll take a step yeah and then you can just wrap your finger around his do hi he looks very happy oh he's great thank you so much for bringing him to show us all it was very interesting you're welcome so I think I'm going to get a a door home and back in his tree well thank you thank you adore it's so nice to meet you way to go Kid Vision kids that was a tremendous job what a relief that's a kid Vision accomplish great job Kid Vision kids we learned a lot about nature today and we made a big mess let's get busy and clean up come on [Music] we achieved our kid vision mission to learn about nature we learned about the Florida Everglades and the Brazilian Rainforest two very different but very important places where nature thrives and supports the health of our planet nature is all around us it's in the Sun the water the air we'll see you next time for another kid vision mission bye [Music] andin what they do on Vis with learn so [Music] TOS Shin major funding for kid vision mission is brought to you in part by the Children's Services Council of Broward County supports Kid Vision and public television we are dedicated to enriching children's lives and empowering them to become responsible and productive adults [Music]