Explore From Home Activities

Are you looking for educational activities to do with your family from home? Our naturalists and facility staff have come up with fun, educational activities and we have compiled a list of them below.

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Looking for more activities?

For more activities, visit our Nature Center and Facilities Facebook pages listed here:

Animals

Eagle Eye Vision

Join our naturalist to learn about eagle eye vision. Can you see like an eagle?

Five-Lined Skink

The Meadowside Nature Center staff had a surprise visitor in the halls. The colors of this five-lined skink will fade with age, but look at how beautiful this juvenile is!

Box Turtle Vibrations

The box turtles at Meadowside Nature Center usually spend their day interpreting vibrations caused by visitors to the Curiosity Corner, but it has been a little quiet around there lately!

How do box turtles hear? Box turtles do not have external ears. Instead, they have skin on the sides of their head that forms a tympanic membrane and protects their inner ears. The hearing range of a box turtle is more limited than humans, picking up low vibrations.

Visit the Meadowside Nature Center Facebook page for pictures of Tulip the box turtle experiencing sound vibrations during her music in the tub enrichment.

American Carrion Beetle

Summertime is beetle time! The beetle is one of the most diverse groups of insects in the world. Beetles are fascinating creatures! These six-legged bugs provide pollinator services to magnolias and pawpaws as well as decomposer services – just roll over a crumbling log the next time you are hiking in Wheaton Regional Park, and you may find a beetle at some stage of its life cycle!

This adult American carrion beetle and its larvae serve the ecosystem by feasting on animal carcasses. Beautiful beetles, important jobs!

For more Animals activities, visit our Online Animals & Nature page.

Arts and Crafts

Make Your Own Butterfly

Make your own Butterfly! September is the peak of butterfly season. All around you we see so many types of butterflies in all colors of the rainbow. Be inspired by these winged insects and create your very own butterfly!

Painting Ice

Did you know that ice rinks are painted? In fact, in order to repaint an ice rink, you have to melt the ice to do it!

Why not paint some ice of your own at home? With a baking tray, some watercolors and a towel (to soak up any mess), you can create a wonderful masterpiece! Check out the naturesource.com website for step-by-step instructions.

Ice Castle Excavation

Looking for a fun, easy, at-home activity to keep your children occupied and learning? How about an ice excavation? This is a neat, easy-to-do activity that only requires a sand castle bucket, some toys (that can get wet), and water! Check out these step-by-step instructions.

Rainbow Melting Ice Experiment

What combines ice, fun, coloring and learning? Typically our summer camps do just that, but, with no camps this year, we hope that you have fun doing this rainbow melting ice experiment from the Powerful Mothering website to bring the ice, fun, coloring, and learning to your home!

DIY Nature – Botanical Art

Botanical art is the depiction of plant life through art. While oftentimes beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, it depicts accurate information and scientific details about the plant.

This form of art is important to sharing and understanding information about the natural world and the role plants play in it. And now you can take part in the fun as well! Visit the Black Hill Nature Programs Facebook page for step-by-step instructions to create your own.

For more Arts & Crafts activities, visit our Online Arts & Crafts page.

Health and Exercise

Dynamic Warmup

How do you stretch? Static warmups used to be taught to athletes of all sports, but scientific data now show that dynamic warmups better prepare you physically and mentally for exercise. Watch this video from former National Hockey League player Gary Roberts on how to have an effective dynamic workout at home.

Olympic Day Workout

We celebrated Olympic Day on June 23! Get into the spirit, be good to your body and move along with the athletes in this 30-minute video from the largest ever 24-hour digital-first Olympic workout.

Importance of Sleep

Would you call yourself a “Sleep Champion?” Whether you are still constantly training or dialing down your activity levels these days, sleep is crucial in restoring your physical condition and optimizing mental health. During your time off the ice, get lots of sleep, but first watch this Team USA video on the importance of sleep.

Physical Literacy and Athletic Excellence

Now is the time to grow your physical literacy and to help your friends and family do the same. There is no time like the present to focus on your ability, competence and desire to be active for life. Learn more about physical literacy and athletic excellence with these resources from USA Hockey – American Developmental Model.

For more Health & Exercise activities, visit our Online Health & Exercise page.

History

Ceramic Butter Dish Insert

This ceramic butter dish insert (pictured to the right) was recovered during excavations at Needwood Mansion. Prior to refrigeration, butter was served in round dishes that helped hold the shape of the butter at room temperature. Dishes generally contained a metal or ceramic drainer insert that suspended the butter over a lower chamber collecting ice drippings from above. An 1885 patent for an improvement to the butter dish shows the placement of the drainer below a metal disk (US Patent US330193A).

Copper Alloy Straight Pins

These copper alloy straight pins (pictured to the left) were recovered from the kitchen trash midden at the Josiah Henson Museum and Park. Pins like these could have been used to make or repair clothing, hold garments, or affix a hat to the head.

For more information on straight pins, visit this Mount Vernon collections page.

Preparing for Winter

The Palmers of Woodlawn Manor, like many early eighteenth century farmers, would be making final preparations in October in order to survive the winter. They would salt or smoke meat and prepare grains, dry fruit and pickle vegetables. The Smokehouse and combination Icehouse at Woodlawn was essential for this task.

To learn more about how the Palmers prepared for the winter season, visit the Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park Facebook page.

Dairy Farm at Sunnyside

Photo Credit: Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, Inventory Number M: 22-35

In 1925, brothers Edward Palmer Beall and Frank Beall established a dairy farm at Sunnyside. Dairying continued on the property through the mid-twentieth century. This 1947 photograph (pictured to the right) shows Needwood Mansion prior to major renovations undertaken by the Stickle and Eckles families.

In 1948, Wilmer Franklin Stickle and Ruth Breuninger Stickle replaced the block dairy barn roof and interior. Four years later, the property was sold to Charles Eckles, who constructed the brick west wing and modernized the dairy.

Nature

Plant of the Week

Salvia (Sage)

Salvia is the largest genus of plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. There are over 900 species of shrubs, biennials, perennials and annuals with distribution ranging from Central and South America (600 species), Central Asia and Mediterranean (250 species) and Eastern Asia (90 species).

There are many different types of fall blooming asters with the majority known for being easy-to-grow perennial plants. Asters provide a bright pop of autumn color and last until a hard frost sets in. Fall asters provide a much-needed source of pollen and nectar for bees, wasps and butterflies including migrating monarch butterflies.

Meadow Maze