Allow us to come to you with our Traveling Environmental Education Programs. We can bring our live animals and exciting presentations to schools, libraries, campgrounds, or almost anywhere in New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware. These unforgettable educational experiences can be adapted for different ages and lengths of time.
Sea Creatures with Amazing Features
Let us share our little animals with your little animals. Participants will use all of their senses and their imagination to discover the wet world of water animals. Following a fun and interactive explanation of the local sea animals we bring, your group will get hands-on time with them. Habitats, food chains, and anatomy are some of the topics covered. Animals include; sea stars, sea urchins, hermit crabs, spider crabs, green crabs, clams, sea snails, and a horseshoe crab.*
Aquatic Adaptations
By first observing, then touching, then picking up the animals, participants will be challenged to discover the special adaptations of the sea animals involved. Volunteers, with the guidance of our instructor, are then asked to explain their findings with the rest of the group. The program concludes with plenty of time for all to investigate the animals more closely. The main topic is animal adaptations but predator prey relationships, food webs, life cycles, anatomy, and classification are also discussed. Animals include; sea stars, sea urchins, hermit crabs, spider crabs, clams, sea snails, mummichogs, and oyster toadfish.*
Saltwater Gene Pools
Using observation, prior knowledge, and problem solving, participants will work in teams to sort live marine animals into their “family gene pools”. Then, after an interactive and informative explanation session about the animals, the groups will have an opportunity to affirm or change their decisions. Ample hands-on time with the animals concludes the program. Classification, anatomy, genetic relationships, and adaptations are some of the topics covered. Animals normally include; green crabs, spider crabs, mummichogs, tautog, oyster toadfish, clams, whelks, hermit crabs, and sea squirts.*
Traveling Turtles
These ravishing reptiles elicit awe from people of all ages. Participants will investigate a variety of turtles and their anatomy, natural history, behaviors, adaptations, life cycles, and more. Your group will learn about our Diamondback Terrapin Conservation Project and get some quality time with some live adult terrapins and even some hatchlings. Although participants don’t touch the live turtles, there are plenty of hands-on turtle teaching tools to investigate and everyone will get to feed the live turtles.
Plankton: Bugs of the Sea
We’ll cover all things crustacean. Participants will get an introduction into the “Secret Lives of Plankton”, take a closer look at a live plankton sample, then delve into those crustaceans which start their lives as plankton including; hermit crabs, blue claws, green crabs, spider crabs, shrimp, and lobsters. Participants will get hands-on time with the animals and use kid friendly microscopes to check out their own plankton samples. A major focus of the program is life cycles, but this program is meatier than that once you break through the shell.
Traveling Touch Tank
Perfect for fairs, festivals or any other event where there’s nature loving people looking to get their hands wet and their curiosity satisfied. We’ll bring one of our touch tanks (approx. 3 ft x 5 ft) and fill it with Sea Creatures for all to investigate… hands-on. Crabs, sea stars, sea urchins, mussels, snails, clams, and horseshoe crabs are some of the usual suspects. Our staff will be there to share fun and interesting facts and to help with the handling of the animals. It always draws a crowd and keeps them smiling.
For information, pricing, and reservations, call (609)368-1211, or e-mail Kaitlin Gannon at kgannon@wetlandsinstitute.org
