Got Nature? Blog

The Nature of Teaching, a Purdue Extension signature program, was honored as the third place finisher in the central region for the Environmental Education Award presented by the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Science (NEAFCS).

Children today spend an average of 20 minutes outside. Since the dawn of television, video games, and other indoor activities, children are spending more and more of their time indoors and missing out on the many benefits of interacting with nature. Various studies have shown that engaging with nature improves concentration, coordination, creativity, and more. Hands of the Future, Inc. is a nonprofit organization started to educate children about the beauty of nature and help them connect with it.

Hands of the Future, Inc. has several programs for kids to get involved with. The Junior Nature Club is a free after school program for children in pre-kindergarten through the eighth grade that meets every three weeks to learn about nature through games, crafts, and other activities.  The Living Schoolyard Program is a partnership with Indiana schools bringing bits of nature to schools in the forms of “outdoor classrooms” like butterfly gardens and raised bed veggie gardens. A Children’s Forest is even being discussed as Hands of the Future, Inc. becomes more and more successful.

For summer fun sign up for Hands of the Future program! Registration is free.

Volunteers & Interns:
Older students and adults can apply to be a volunteer. Volunteers are always appreciated, no past experience necessary. If you love nature and kids you will enjoy this program. Internships are available for college students, contact Zonda Bryant.

This month’s Junior Nature Club theme is soil, and is taking place on June 21st for pre-kindergarteners to second graders, June 23rd for third to fifth graders, and June 28th for sixth to eighth graders at the Lilly Nature Center at Celery Bog. Look forward to upcoming themes including “Monarch Madness” and “Floating on Air!”

For more information, please check out the Hands of Future, Inc. and Junior Nature Club websites listed below.

Resources:
PK-12 Programs – Purdue FNR Extension

Zonda Bryant, Director
765.366.9126
director@hands-future.org

Purdue Extension Contact:
Rebecca Busse, Extension Associate
Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
busser@purdue.edu

Many choices we make in our daily lives can have an impact on the water quality of rivers and streams around us. Animals like the eastern hellbender need clean water for their habitats, and they depend on us to make environmentally friendly choices whenever possible. Small changes to our daily routines such as sweeping sidewalks and driveways instead of hosing them off can improve water quality around us.

The new lesson plan from The Nature of Teaching titled Healthy Water, Happy Home offers a fun way for 4th and 5th grade students to learn about healthy water choices they can make in their home and community, along with learning how to identify aquatic animal species like the eastern hellbender. Healthy Water, Happy Home is available as a free download in The Education Store which includes a board game, vocabulary worksheet, accompanying lesson notes and power point slides for the teacher. It can be used as a 60-90 interactive classroom lesson on water quality. The board game allows students to choose an aquatic species like the northern water snake or water strider as their player piece, travel along the riverbed answering questions along with completing fun and educational tasks about positive water quality choices. The first group to make it to the hellbender, indicating the highest level of water quality, wins the game.

Teachers are highly encouraged to check out Healthy Water, Happy Home as well as the rest of The Nature of Teaching lesson plans for educational wildlife activities for the classroom. To keep updated on resources involving the eastern hellbender conservation efforts, please visit HelpTheHellbender.org.

Resources:
Healthy Water, Happy Home – Lesson Plan – The Education Store, Purdue Extension Resource Center
The Nature of Teaching – Purdue Extension
Lesson Plans – Help the Hellbender
Kids Resources – Help the Hellbender
Hellbender Havoc video game – Google Play Store

Rebecca Busse, Extension Associate
Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources

Rod Williams, Associate Professor of Wildlife Science
Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources