Resources for Kids & Families
Self-Guided Adventures
StoryWalk®
StoryWalk® is an innovative and delightful way for children — and adults! — to enjoy reading and the outdoors at the same time. Laminated pages from a children’s book are attached to wooden storyboards that are installed along an outdoor path. As you stroll along the trail, you read the story in sequence while enjoying a little activity and fresh air.
We currently have two StoryWalks® that are open to the public year round. We welcome you and your young naturalists to join us anytime dawn to dusk to enjoy the walk at your own pace. One is at the Cathance River Nature Preserve and the other is at the Crystal Spring Farm garden trail.
Self-Guided QR Code Nature Tour
In August of 2020, we surveyed the community about what types of activities people would enjoy while COVID safety precautions are in place. A self-guided tour of the Cathance River Nature Preserve was highest on the list, so here it is!
This QR code-based tour is meant to offer a sampler of everything the preserve has to offer. The locations range from vernal pools and natural features to past human history and how BTLT/CREA uses the preserve today.
To join the fun, simply download a QR scanning app on your phone from your device’s App Store. The trail starts on the Highland Trail. From the Ecology Center parking, go down the steps to Rensenbrink Way and follow it to the kiosk. Turn left (northwest) onto the Highland Trail and keep an eye out for codes, which are in obvious places (such as blazed trees) along the trail! Codes are located along the Highland Trail then east along the Cathance River Trail, returning to the Ecology Center via the Beaver and Highland Trails.
This map includes the rough locations of all ten QR code spots to help aid you in your adventure. Happy hiking!
CREA Nature Investigators (CNI)
CREA’s 2020 summer interns, Alex and Lily, created a virtual summer camp package, called CREA Nature Investigators (CNI). Below you will find fun outdoor activities that you can do with your younger child(ren), or that older children can do on their own. CNI activities are geared towards grades 1 – 5, but can be adapted for any age (even adults!).
Each link below takes you to a short description of the activity, a link to a short video featuring Alex and Lily as they showcase the activity, and a short written description of the activity and any supplies needed.
This is a great way to get your children outside, exploring and learning about the wonders of nature!
CNI #1: Start a Rock Collection – Alex and Lily launch our CREA Nature Investigators series, showing how to start a rock collection.
CNI #2: Make a Sundial – Join Lily and Alex as they use the power of the sun to tell the time!
CNI #3: Start a Weather Journal – Lily and Alex make a rain gauge to track how much rain falls in their weather journal!
CNI #4: Does It Float? – Lily and Alex test whether objects they find in nature will float or sink!
CNI #5: What’s in Dirt? – Explore the wonders of dirt – the soil beneath our feet – with Alex and Lily.
CNI #6: Make a Nature Mask – Alex shows Lily how to make a nature mask to practice their camouflage skills!
CNI #7: Find a Tree Friend – Make a Tree Friend and unlock its mysteries over the coming year.
CNI #8: Leaf Identification – Check out Lily and Alex’s adventure as they try to identify leaves they find around the preserve!
CNI #9: Use a Naturalist’s Eye – Lily and Alex teach how to develop your powers of observation to become a better naturalist!
CNI #10: Make a Boat – Alex and Lily design boats from materials they find outdoors (and indoors).
CNI #11: Humans on the Preserve – Become a detective and hunt for traces of humans on the landscape – past and present.
CNI #12: Fairy Houses – Join Alex and Lily as they explore the woods and make fairy houses.
CNI #13: Paper Butterflies – Make beautiful butterflies out of paper with Alex and Lily!
CNI #14: Make a Bird’s Nest – Can you make a bird’s nest as strong as one a bird makes?
CNI #15: Map Making – Learn how to make a map of your favorite place!
Resources for Educators
Training Videos on Outdoor Teaching
In this series of three short videos – Getting Started with Outdoor Learning – CREA Educators Sarah Rodgers and Carey Truebe introduce the key information teachers need to make outdoor teaching a success. This guidance applies primarily to pre-K and elementary students, but some concepts can be adapted to middle school students.
Part 1: Stepping Out the Door (supplies, logistics, and routines) – 15 mins
Part 2: Simple Activities (easy outdoor activities that can be repeated throughout the year) – 16 mins
Part 3: A Different Approach and Knowing What to Expect – 15 mins
Nature-Based Education Resources
Here’s a list some of our favorite resources on nature-based learning here, including documents, local groups, and online resources:
- Tips and Tricks for Teaching Outdoors – CREA educators share their knowledge about how to make outdoor learning successful and engaging. Suggested solutions to common issues and tips to get you started.
- Outdoor Learning Network – An informal association of elementary teachers from school districts in our region (mostly SAD75 and Brunswick but others welcome) that meets periodically to share experiences, ideas, and successes with outdoor learning. Contact sarah@btlt.org or carey@btlt.org for more information.
- Inside – Outside website – Created by New England educators in response to growing interest nature-based education. If you only look at one website about outdoor learning, choose this one! Their Getting Started page has a thorough list of outdoor teaching supplies, short videos to inspire your teaching, and a sample outdoor schedule of activities. For motivation on why to add outdoor learning to your toolbox, read their position statement on why outdoor access for every child is critical.
- Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) – MEEA publishes guidance on reopening schools during the pandemic, which includes utilizing outdoor and environmental education.
- Nature Based Education Consortium (NBEC) – NBEC is a Maine-based collaboration of groups collaborating to provide guidance and resources designed facilitate outdoor learning.
- Boston Schoolyard Initiative – Offers ideas on how to teach writing and science outside, other teaching resources, and how to maintain your outdoor teaching space.
- Children & Nature Network (CNN) – CNN is the hub for current research on the benefits to children of spending time in nature.
- Natural Start Alliance – Good resource for outdoor activities targeting preschoolers.
Learn About Nature
Watch these short, delightful videos (made for elementary students but adults love them, too) and learn about animal adaptation, geology, pond life, and outdoor activities that will help you become a seasoned nature observer and naturalist!
Tour Geologic Processes at Cathance River Nature Preserve
Take a tour of the Cathance River Nature Preserve to see real life examples of weathering and erosion. Check out the rushing river and powerful rapids as they (very slowly!) change the shapes of the rocks at CREA. Then go on a scavenger hunt outdoors to find examples of weathering and erosion where you live!
Visit an abandoned feldspar quarry (now overgrown by forest), learn how feldspar rocks get turned into bathtubs and dishes, and search for clues of feldspar mining that happened 150 years ago at the Cathance River Nature Preserve!
Explore two ponds from the perspective of a Painted Turtle, a Spotted Salamander, and a Dragonfly! As you take on the role of each animal, look closely at each pond — does it have the unique habitat features that you need to survive?
Using nets and buckets, explore the fascinating creatures we can find in a scoop of pond muck! This video examines pond critters up close, looking at different adaptations that allow them to breathe underwater, find food, move around, and stay safe from predators. Watch, then find a pond YOU can explore.
Why do birds have different kinds of feet? Watch this video, then conduct your own investigation of birds and their different feet…
Learn secrets about bird nests!
Backyard Explore! Go on a Flower Search … and More
See how many different flowers you can find. (Can you find one for every color of the rainbow?) Learn about Kate Furbish, a plant scientist who studied and painted hundreds of flowers in Maine – many years ago. Then learn how to make a flower press, and make notecards with your pressed flowers!
