Ignite your children’s curiosity and innate love of nature this winter at Fields Pond Audubon Center’s all-new Homeschool Naturalist program, which we have designed for children ages 8 to 12 who are being homeschooled.
We have developed this brand new program and are offering it as a series of four two-hour programs for children ages 8-12, taking place on January 11 and 25 and February 8 and 29, from 10 am to noon. You can sign up for all four, or just do one!
Each session will mix science with fun and outdoor learning. Children will investigate concepts through hands-on quests designed to build a foundation for scientific inquiry. The focus this winter will include wildlife adaptations, animal tracking, and the science of snow! Find out how animals survive Maine’s harsh winters, and learn about the different ways Maine’s wildlife have evolved to change their bodies and behavior in order to succeed in cold environments.
We’ll look at both physical adaptations as well as behavioral adaptations. Animals can either tolerate and adapt to winter, migrate, or hibernate. We’ll conduct experiments and play games to explore those three strategies for surviving a Maine winter.
How do gray squirrels survive the Maine winter? Late in the fall, they gather and hide food that they can access in winter months when food is scarce. We’ll pretend we are squirrels and play a food caching game. Students will get a collection of nuts and get a set time to run around hiding them. Then they will need to find and return to them a few different times, simulating the passage of winter months. Gray squirrels typically hide their food in a number of different places. But they can’t always remember where they have put the food, and sometimes the food has been eaten by other animals. See how good your memory is; it may determine how well you can survive winter!
We’ll also do some snow science. By creating some pretend mammals, we’ll be able to take their temperatures in different layers of a snow pack, and build a snow shelter and see how well that helps keep our critters warm.
Uncover which animals can be found in the Maine woods by discovering tracks and other clues wildlife may leave behind on Fields Ponds snowy landscape.
Click here for more and to sign up.
Participants can sign up for the entire four-class series for $40 member/$50 nonmember. Otherwise, each individual session is $12 members/$15 nonmembers. Drop ins are welcomed, but please call ahead to confirm there is space available.
