During nationwide shutdowns from the COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to do our part to keep kids engaged and lighten the burden of homeschooling for parents. The education team at Sanibel Sea School responded by creating Nature Near You.
Nature Near You included hands-on, experiential education designed for backyards anywhere. Our educators created DIY nature-based crafts at home, virtual lessons, at-home science experiments, and fun new ways to explore your own backyard.
Over the course of thirteen weeks, we compiled over 30 issues of Nature Near You and explored the small bits of nature in our backyards together. We conducted backyard bioblitzes, created nature journals, did countertop experiments, and turned our backyards into wildlife sanctuaries with DIY projects.
In case you missed it, we’ve archived all of our Nature Near You emails at the bottom of this page and have featured a selection of lessons that you can still access online.
Featured LESSONS
Join us as we celebrate Earth Week and explore the awesome conservation success story of the Osprey!
Today we will be exploring some creative ways to make art inspired by nature. These crafts use resources found around your home, and are super fun to make!
Come on an exciting journey with us as we explore how to use nature journals to record and study the amazing things we see every day! We will also walk you through how to make a journal of your very own!
Come explore the outdoors with us as we teach you about biodiversity, walk you through how to perform your own BioBlitz, share some cool crafts, and more!
Here at Sanibel Sea School, we know this time of Social Distancing, staying at home, and online interactions can make it hard to think about getting outside. That is why we are super excited to introduce Nature Near You as a way to provide resources for people around the world to get into nature and explore. We are excited to take this journey with you.
Email Archive
This will be our final issue of Nature Near You. After 34 issues, we have truly enjoyed discovering the wonders of our backyards with you. From conducting our very own bioblitz to turning our backyards into wildlife sanctuaries, it has been so much fun learning, exploring, and appreciating the small pieces of nature that surround us.
Join us on an exciting journey to learn about the olfactory system!
Join us as we learn all about quadrats!