Are you and your kids getting bored inside the house?
The Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA) is making it easier to become a nature explorer in your own backyard with the launch of their new online nature exploration program.
“Our mission is to foster a sense of wonder and excitement about nature. If we have to do it online, that’s the best way we can do it right now,” said Naomi Saunders, manager of environmental education for the NVCA.
“Nature has many health benefits. It can reduce stress, improving mood, releasing endorphins. People really need to get out, now more than ever,” she added.
Saunders has spearheaded creating the lessons, which include topics such as backyard discoveries, Citizen Science projects, flora identification, animal habitats and invasive species. Episode topics were determined using a Survey Monkey survey that was administered through the NVCA and taken by parents that subscribe to their programming on a regular basis.
Families who sign up can have access to video lessons, activity descriptions and modelling with applicable .pdf files. They will also be invited to Club Beyond Tiffin to share their adventures, pictures and ask questions.
There is a fee of $5 per lesson or $20 for five lessons.
“We are a not-for-profit organization,” said Saunders. “This is, essentially, a cost-recovery program.”
Saunders said that previous to teachers strikes and COVID-19, the Tiffin Centre would see roughly 14,000 students come through their doors per year, which would pay for the cost of staff to run the program.
Right now, that number is drastically less. As a result, many staff have had to be laid off with Saunders as the only full-time employee left running programming.
“I’m developing these programs so we can build a following and I can start pulling back some other staff,” she said.
The video series is appropriate for students from kindergarten to Grade 12, and can be used as supplemental material to the elementary and high school curriculum.
New lessons are launched every Friday.
“The main impetus for us starting this program is that people still need to get out there and connect with nature,” she said. “Oftentimes because we are so disconnected, we don’t know how to do that.”
For more information or to register, click here.
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