EcoDiscovery Experience offers summer adventures for kids ages 5 to 8, enabling them to safely explore Shelter Island’s native habitats and natural phenomena.
Mark Mobius, with the support of an assistant, leads inquisitive participants as they develop an appreciation for nature and an ability to see the natural world differently. He says the immersive, hands-on experience is more about asking questions than looking up answers.
“I have a lifelong passion for the outdoors,” he says. “In EcoDiscovery Experience we learn about nature and science and hone our observational skills using all our senses.”
Mobius, who has a Masters Degree in Environmental Management and over 20 years of professional experience, has been running the program year-round since last summer.
What’s an average day like?
In three-hour sessions located at various public spaces around the Island, kids hike, take measurements and samples, categorize plants, and make notes and drawings to document what they see. They conduct experiments and forage for useful plants, and become familiar with and comfortable in natural areas of all kinds. The groups thoroughly explore the woods, meadows, beaches, and marshes.
“We get off the trails and get dirty,” Mobius said.
Children may haul a seine net in shallow water, pick berries, dig holes, set insect sampling traps, build things, climb things, and go places most people never do.
“We always look for the interesting things that escape casual observation and regularly consider the questions, what is that thing, and what’s it doing there?”
Mobius is certified through the Eastern Region of Forest and Nature Schools (ERAFANS) as a Nature-Based Teacher. ERAFANS is a non-profit group of nature-based preschool directors, teachers, and childcare providers who offer teacher certification courses.
In the EcoDiscovery Experience programs, kids learn environmental stewardship, how to be safe in nature, and how to identify habitats and useful plants but most importantly they will have blast doing it.
Details
Mobius offers four, two-week programs, all beginning at 8:45 AM, with drop-off at locations to be announced. Find the online booking form here.
Spaces are available in Tuesday and Thursday sessions in July and August. The cost is $480 per student, per two-week program. Some space remains in the Monday, Wednesday, Friday sessions in August, which cost $780 per child, per two weeks.
Additionally, he offers private adventure bookings — great for birthday parties and family reunions to give all the young participants an enriching, shared outdoor experience.
Find additional details at EcoDiscoverE.com.
