Playing music using authentic Tongva instruments. Ms. Megan rockin out to some Tongva grooves. Mr. Dan teaches 3rd graders about Native American games. Ms. Jenny shows students how to make string! Using pump drills to make shell bead money.

A non-Newtonian fluid is a fluid whose flow properties are not described by a single constant value of viscosity.Home school students create non-Newtonian fluids in MAD Science class at the Environmental Nature Center.Free radicals are atoms, molecules or ions with unpaired electrons (no friends). These unpaired electrons are usually highly reactive, so radicals are likely to take part in chemical reactions like this explosion of non-dairy creamer. See the video HERE.Home school students making good use of junk mail – making paper!

5th Grade students learn about the water cycle and water conservation in our new building.  They see our dual flush toilets and storm water management system.  No water leaves the site! Boy has this rug come in handy!  We would be grateful to anyone who would like donate funds for a second one for our other classroom (about $700). This plastic bag shows students this Toyon plant’s transpiration. Mr. Dan discusses ways water gets cleaned and polluted. Students play a game to broaden their awareness of ways water can be polluted and cleaned. 5th grade students learn about classification by using a key to identify intertidal organisms. Meghan helps students key out a critter. Mr. Dan discusses the results of aquatic testing at our Marsh. Taking the…

Mark shows a Native Skills camper how to use a bow and arrow. The Native Skills Campers and the arrows they made. Painting our snakes. Touching a real, live snake! Practicing using out OTHER senses.

Playing with clay. Mr. Dan teaches his Earth Explorers about animal skulls, and how one can determine if the animal was a predator, prey, carnivore, omnivore or herbivore.  Watch the VIDEO here. A little free time in Nature.  Watch out Tarzan! What a comfortable chair! Mark teaches the Native Skills kids how to start a fire. Wringing water out of a t-shirt. Making an arrow.

What a pleasant place to be creative. The squirrel in the palm tree kept us quite amused. Looks like he’s eating the palm leaf buds? Dan shows the Earth Explorers how to make the center of their flowers have the texture of seeds by doing rubbings. Mark demonstrated how to build a fire, then the Native Skills kids built one on their own! Mark demonstrated how to start a fire using a bow drill. Here is the video! And here is a video of Mark starting the fire with the coal he made using the bow drill. This is what your kindling should feel like – sort of like hair. Enjoying the fruits of our efforts! Meanwhile the Earth Explorers glue the petals on their…

Mark and the Native Skills kids practiced their “ninja walk” on the grass field at Newport Harbor High next door. Sometimes it’s good just to flop down on some grass! The campers LOVE our Junior Naturalists! The Native Skills kids constructed a nifty shelter! The Earth Explorers learned butterfly anatomy, discovered the connection between pollinators and flowers, and made a cute butterfly craft.

After a break in the rain, the kids took to the trails to Explore the Earth! Mushrooms love the rain, and so do we! This phoebe rests in between bites of (gnats) to eat. Along the trail we saw the claw of a crayfish by the stream! Back inside we made snowpeople out of TP rolls and egg cartons. Recycling is FUN! In Native Skills we learned how to find water. Mark shows campers how to harvest rainwater from a puddle using a t-shirt. You also have to boil it and let the sediment settle, of course! A depression in stone is another good place to find water. Mark shows campers how to harvest dew that has accumulated on a plant. The campers learned how…