Is spring on the way, or are we faced with another six weeks of winter? According to legend, Punxsutawney Phil foretells the impending weather each year. If he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. If not, spring is near! Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary celebrates this ritual with a fun afternoon of activities for kids and families!
In this week's program, kids will learn about naturally-occurring patterns and talk about some of nature's best designers and architects! Kids will learn about how bees achieve the perfect hexagons found in their honey combs, how much structural design goes into a beaver dam and how animals and other creatures use naturally occurring patterns found throughout our natural environment. Our afternoon starts off with self-guided activities, challenges, or puzzles that lead us to our topic for the day.
Join watercolorist Brenda Sloane in a monthly program that combines nature and art. We will start with a walk on the sanctuary to observe the topic of the month. We will then return to the Nature Center to create a follow-up work of art. Sign up for one or more of these classes.
In this class kids will make a reindeer out of sticks and twigs and learn about real reindeer. They'll also explore seed travel and talk about how plants get ready for the winter. Any season is a great time to notice nature's beauty and to make it come to life with amazing works of art! Each series offers different themes and different materials to engage every young artist's budding creativity. Sign up for one class at a time, or come for the whole series. Move over, Michelangelo - make room for all our Joppa artist superstars!
This week we'll focus on the beach habitat and the creatures that live there! This parent/child program is designed for the creative, curious, and active preschooler. Each 90-minute session offers a structured series of activities including original songs, movement, dramatic play, hands-on science, and a thematic snack. You'll receive coloring pages, song lyrics, vocabulary, a fun fact sheet, and a suggested reading list in an electronic goody bag!
This week we'll focus on the beach habitat and the creatures that live there! This parent/child program is designed for the creative, curious, and active preschooler. Each 90-minute session offers a structured series of activities including original songs, movement, dramatic play, hands-on science, and a thematic snack. You'll receive coloring pages, song lyrics, vocabulary, a fun fact sheet, and a suggested reading list in an electronic goody bag!
This week's program will focus on the habitat of the subtidal zone, a world that is usually covered with water except for the very lowest part of low tide! Our afternoon starts off with self-guided activities, challenges, or puzzles that lead us to our topic for the day. As a group, we'll observe, investigate, and compare wildlife, their adaptations, and the changes that they undergo in autumn. Participants may play the role of entomologist, ornithologist, astronomer, or even glaciologist throughout this series. Each experience will leave your young naturalist eager for the next session.
Join us as we share a children's nature story before we explore the woods, fields, and wetlands of the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary. This month we'll focus on animals preparing for Winter by foraging nature's harvest.
Explore the transitional zone of the wrack line afterschool in Newburyport! This class will include exploration of our portable beach with close examination of sea shells, crab molts, skate egg cases, driftwood and other natural objects that can be found on the beach at high tide. We will get to see live scud under the microscope, and learn about shorebirds that find food at the tide line. We will play the shorebird migration game. and then everyone will get to help us with a mini beach clean up to learn about why plastics and Styrofoam don’t belong on the beach. We’ll give everyone a challenge called “getting out of a bind” and then we’ll make a art project with recycled soda and water bottles that they will get to take home!
At this Quest Fest, learn all about Questing! Make your own stamp and passport and participate in the fastest growing family recreational adventure this side of the Atlantic. The Sweetbay Swamp Quest is a clue-based treasure hunt through the swamp trails, discovering stories about our nearly "loved to death" Sweetbay Magnolia and to a Quest Treasure Box. Pre-registration required.
