NATCHEZ — Even though 14-year-old Jimmy Matinchek lives in Arkansas, he signed up to visit Mississippi so he could have a volunteer experience he thought would be cool.

Tuesday that experience meant leading a group of children on the Jefferson College T.J. Foster Memorial Trail to teach them more about plant life.

Jefferson College Branch Director Robin Person was along for the walk helping children identify trees as part of the naturalist camp going on this week.

“This camp is fun,” 10-year-old Matt McKinney said. “I’m outside having fun instead of being cramped up inside. I can’t wait to see the insects!”

Person said this was Jefferson College’s first Naturalist Camp, and the college was doing it because 40 of its 80-acre campus is part of the nature trail.

“We want to teach children an appreciation of nature,” she said. “Many of them spend their lives in front of video games, and we want to teach them about nature.”

Logan Young, 10, described to the naturalist campers how his mother reacted when he came in with a “weed” he discovered in the garden.

“Ahh! Get to the sink and wash off quick,” he mimicked her.

“She wouldn’t even touch it,” he said. “That is how I learned to stay away from poison ivy.”

“Leaves of three, let it be,” Person said as she described how to identify poison ivy to the children.

On the trail, 10-year-old Katie Wheat found a light-tawny egg looking thing on the ground, and she brought it to Person to find out what it was.

“This is a gall,” Person said. “A certain type of wasp lays its egg on a tree, and it sends chemicals into the tree that make it create a protective shell around the egg. This one has hatched.”

Today, the children will learn about insects and reptiles. Thursday the children will learn about birds, and Friday will be about mammals.

“I am looking forward to feeding a snake,” Wheat said. “I’ve already fed the turtle.”

She also said she learned snakes are not bad.

“They do not want to hurt us,” Wheat said. “We are moving in on their territory, and they just don’t want us to hurt them.”

Wheat said the animals were her favorite part of the Naturalist Camp.

“I like a lot of the woodland creatures so it’s awesome to get to learn all about them,” she said. “I have a stuffed bird that I keep on my mirror.”

Wheat said she thought the multi-colored caterpillars were pretty.

“I love them,” she said. “I also love lizards — I caught a baby lizard earlier, and showed it off to the class, it was cool.”

Young and Wheat agreed the nature trail was good exercise.

“You might lose some weight walking it,” Wheat said.

Nine-year-old Rudy Nugent said Tuesday’s camp was the best of the nature camps he attended this summer.

“(The Jefferson College) camp is spending more time outdoors than the other camp — we spent two of the four days inside there,” he said. “It is way better actually being outside, so (Naturalist Camp) is cool.”