This Week at Liberty

For some time now, Liberty Wildlife has offered programs for young nature lovers. The first of these was our teen program for young people from 12-18 years old. They participate during our open hours on Saturdays and Sundays. They learn a targeted lesson about nature and then take over the hands-on presentation of reptiles from our Interactive Room. The goal is to provide these young people with some real-world experience presenting nature exhibits, reptiles, skulls, pellets, etc. to our public attendees on the weekends. They are a great addition to our Public Open Hour offerings and also provide some up-close and personal learning for themselves related to the natural world.

We next developed a program called The Superheroes for youngsters from K-3^rd grades. Meeting once a month on the 2^nd Sunday from 9:00-10:30, the group of 10 enthusiastic learners warm the hearts of everyone with their bubbling enthusiasm. The goal for this group is to give young children confidence in their ability to positively impact the natural world around them, while learning how to intimately interact with nature. Their parents are asked to participate with them, and it has been delightful for both groups….learning and acting together to be in nature.

So now, the time has come to introduce this great opportunity to the “middle-ages”… Introducing the Nature Explorers, a program for students in grades 4-6^th. The organization of the workshop will rotate around a four-week program. These will be offered three or four times a year. Each workshop series will be focused on a different topic. The October-November workshop will focus on Habitats. Within that topic will be activities such as journaling, sit spots (a favorite space to tune into nature), necessities of nature…food, water, shelter and space developed through projects such as making bird feeders; solitary bee homes, nests, puddle patches, etc.

Later workshops taking place next spring will cover adaptations, pollinator gardens, migration and spring activities, breeding and baby birds, the importance of insects and other things in nature. Each month-long workshop will have a general flow of activity including an introduction, water/snacks and a quick recap of what happened in the last meeting. Each Explorer is invited to share nature experiences since the last meeting, get a visit from one of Liberty Wildlife’s Ambassador animals, have adventures in observation around the campus, followed by an appropriate craft experience. A wrap up will be an invitation of “Story of the Day” or “My Favorite Part” and the participation in the “What I learned today, and how will I use it?” activity.

These workshops will be held on Sundays from 1:30-3:30 for four weeks. Dates for the first workshop will be October 26, Nov. 9^th, 16th, and 23^rd. The perfect workshop size is around 10 young folks and parents are welcome to stay or not. Most of the activities will center around the Liberty Wildlife ambassadors, the Interactive (reptile) Room, the pollinator and butterfly garden, the wetlands, the Non-Eagle Feather Repository, and the larger campus including our new mammal exhibit.

If you are interested in more information regarding these youth programs: The Nature Explores or the Superheroes program, and program fees, please contact, carols@libertywildlife.org. To learn more about the Teen Program, contact dorasuttell@libertywildlife.org.