February 2nd is Groundhog day – the day we find out whether we are in for an early spring or 6 more weeks of winter. Get your kids together and enjoy a fun morning of Groundhog Day stories and crafts in the great house, followed by a fun outdoor exploration and a snack!
Let your creative juices flow! In this afternoon activity, we will create, build and embellish winter sculptures using nature’s bounty. Work as a family, a group of friends or let us pair you up when you arrive and work together as a team to add imaginative sculptural elements to the Stevens-Coolidge gardens. Cocoa will be served to keep your hands warm and busy!
Come be a winter wildlife detective and learn the tracks and signs of local animals. During the introduction you will make your own wildlife tracks ID guide and get to look at and touch real wildlife clues. Then we will head out on the trails to follow tracks and signs left by wildlife such as deer, rabbits, coyotes, beavers, and more.
Start your weekend with others who are intereted in science and wildlife and get in touch with your "inner scientist!" Twice a month we'll offer a chance to meet live creatures, design something "green," or explore a new field in science.
Summer beach days are over, but our 110-gallon tide pool touch tank is still filled with marine life! Drop in for this free program at Joppa Flats and examine the critters you might have discovered on your own visits to the shore. Sea Urchiins, Moon Snails, Sand Dollars, hermits, Horseshoe Crabs, and more! This free programming for folks of all ages includes special features for little ones.
Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and Mass Audubon's Joppa Flats Education Center are collaborating to offer visitors an opportunity to discover the different animals that live on the beach. Visitors can stop by the tent adjacent to the first boardwalk to the beach. Through hands-on educational activities, visitors will discover different habitat zones and what animals use these habitats. Visitors will have an opportunity to explore and touch live tide pool animals such as crabs, hermit crabs and sea urchins provided by Mass Audubon's Joppa Flats Education Center.
Join the park interpreter and special guest Russ Hopping on a walk to view and identify various butterfly species at Maudslay. Russ is an active member of the Massachusetts Butterfly Club and enjoys sharing his knowledge of butterflies with others. Russ is the Ecology Program Director for The Trustees of Reservations. He has worked for The Trustees since 1997, overseeing the stewardship of ecological resources at The Trustees’ more than 26,000 acres.
Drop in at Joppa Flats and meet live caterpillars, moths, and butterflies! You’ll learn smart practices to attract birds and wildlife to your own yard as well as how to safely identify insects. Enjoy a "Backyard Bug Hunt' with our naturalists, join in a "Monarch Migration Relay Race," and take home a fun craft or two.
During this fun, hands-on program we will learn all about whales. We will use different tools to help us understand how big adult whales get. Each participant will choose their own special whale. After coloring-in their whale, they will place it on the particular ocean it calls home. There will be a fun activity for each child to make and take home. “Friends of Whales” certificates will be given out at the end of the program. This program is appropriate for home-schooled and other children in grades K-3. Parent or adult chaperone must stay with their child during the program. Children and accompanying adults will find themselves joining in the fun activities.
For generations children have enjoyed exploring tide pools and discovering the fascinating plants and animals that live in this realm between the tides. A refuge ranger will guide this hands-on program.
