As the school year comes to a close, here are some highlights from our partnership with LearningWorks, an after school academic enrichment program for elementary school students. Last fall, as an environmental educator for Maine Audubon, I began visiting students at Portland�s Reiche Community School once a week for what we quickly nicknamed �Wildlife Wednesdays.� […]
Connections
A Snapping Turtle Story: Good luck, Muddy!
In September 2022, a nest full of baby Snapping Turtles hatched here at Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth, Maine. We kept one of them, the biggest and the muddiest, to spend the winter in our Discovery Room, so it could teach us all about the early life of these ancient creatures. The […]
Snapshots from Christmas Bird Count Weekend 2020
Not even a pandemic and a fresh 19 inches of snow stopped Maine birders from taking part in the Christmas Bird Count this weekend. The official season for the 121st annual Count, or CBC, runs between December 14, 2020 and January 4, 2021, though many of the regions held their event this Saturday, December 19. […]
Family Fun Connections: Skeletons
Last fall, my son fell in love with one of the Halloween decorations at his school. It was a crow skeleton, complete with what I can only describe as �feather bones� on its wings and tail. We stopped to admire it twice a day on our way in and out of the building, and I […]
Family Fun Connections: Go with the flow
It’s no secret that water play�pouring, scooping, splashing�is a great way to engage young children, and the perfect way to stay cool on a� hot day. But exploring moving water can add a whole new dimension to this play. If you are lucky enough to have access to a creek or stream (or even the […]
Family Fun Connections: Spiderwebs
What shape is a spider web? Orb webs, with their wheel-like spokes, are probably what most quickly comes to mind. But if you’ve walked across a dewy lawn recently, chances are you passed by the funnel-shaped web of a grass spider. These webs really stand out on misty or dewy summer mornings and they are […]
Family Fun Connections: A Bird Checklist for Young Birders
Just in time for summer vacation, we’ve added a new resource to our Birding in Maine page: The Maine Birds Checklist for Young Birders (pdf). This photographic checklist features forty common species and includes extra information about each bird’s behavior and diet, making it a useful tool both as a checklist and for introducing ecological […]
Elementary Connections: Food Webs
How does energy move through an ecosystem? What is a food chain or web? What different roles do plants and animals play in these interconnected webs? Let’s look at all these webs! Energy Starts with the Sun Plants and algae have the amazing ability to do photosynthesis, the process of using energy from the sun […]
Family Fun Connections: Take another look
Happy summer! Were you told that �only boring people get bored� as a kid, too? As much as I’ve tried to take this to heart with my own parenting, these are unusual circumstances and some of our everyday routines are starting to feel a little stale. Time for some fresh perspective!� Then, head OUTSIDE: Paying […]