The BSB Tree-a-thon lessons are intended to help support a statewide Tree-a-thon tree planting activity that will take place in communities across the state over the upcoming Arbor Day weekend, April 24 -26th.  These materials, originally intended to be part of a six week afterschool club, were adapted to a three hour activity that can be done at home and were developed by a team of UNL Forestry and Environmental Studies majors participating in one of BSB’ Design Intensives.   

Another group of UNL students developed the BSB Solar Units : K-2 environmental activities in a Design Challenge we hosted last fall.  Again, while developed for an afterschool club, these materials were adapted to reflect our current in-home programming reality. 

What do you look for when designing or choosing a high-quality afterschool or summer program activity focused on environmental education?  We developed a checklist of best practices in Environmental Education as part of the ELO Best Practices resource in our newly launched Toolkit.

The National Environmental Education Foundation is America’s foremost non-profit advocate for Environmental Education.  This link above connects you to a wealth of activities they have identified to promote environmental education week, with a particular focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) experiences that promote environmental awareness and action. 

Nebraska Game and Parks has a number of great resources available:

• The Nebraska Bird Library: Learn about and identify over 400 species of Nebraska birds with this easy-to-read website. Then go outside and see if you can put your new knowledge to use!
• Project Beak: Use these fun online lesson plans and activities to teach children about birds, including birdwatching basics, habitat and at-risk species.
• Game and Parks lesson plans: Adaptable for a variety of ages, Nebraska Game and Parks' lesson plans cover everything from birds to pollinators to soil and worms.

Welcome birds into your yard or outside your window by creating your own birdfeeder from recycled materials--this will not only be a charming yard or window decoration, but will provide a good food source for your avian visitors.