Are you an undergraduate interested in finding out what types of careers there are within the field of nature science? Come join other undergraduates from around the northern Indiana area to explore career opportunities from real professionals in the field! Leave inspired by networking with real world professionals and other natural science students from a wide range of careers, backgrounds and opportunities within the field.
Come learn how to make your own shiitake mushroom logs! Tour the Merry Lea shiitake mushroom laying yard and learn how to inoculate hardwood logs. Participants will practice the steps it takes to inoculate shiitake mushrooms using sawdust spawn. After practicing at each station, participants will have the chance to repeat the process on a log to take home and care for. Please note mushrooms will take 12-18 months to grow in your own shaded backyard, but will seasonally fruit up to four years. The use of power tools, hot wax, and heavy logs will be a part of this program.
Stripes, spirals, shapes and more! Where can we find hidden patterns in the outdoors? Join us as we read “Flow Spin Grow” by Patchen Barss & Todd Stewart, and then head out on the trail for a short hike. We will make patterns of our own with grasses, sticks, and whatever else we find as we engage in nature's patterns in the woods. Please prepare yourselves by wearing weather-appropriate clothing as we will be outside.
Celebrate spring during our annual Nature Fest! This FREE and fun-filled festival features various family and BioBlitz (science investigations) activities at Merry Lea.
Celebrate spring during our annual Nature Fest! This FREE and fun-filled festival features various family and BioBlitz (science investigations) activities at Merry Lea.
Carla Gull will lead participants in a share out of natural play areas. Be ready to share quick and easy ideas that have been easy for you to implement, frustrations, how you are using the space, handling risky play, planning, storage, resources, etc. in your outdoor classrooms, more traditional playground embracing nature, natural play areas, temporary spaces, or use of the beyond. While Carla will have some suggestions and ideas, this session will be participatory, with a shared space to collaborate and explore what has been working (or not!) for you in your outdoor spaces! Carla has developed mobile and more permanent play spaces in the area, as well as consults on the topic with Nature Explore. Outdoor classrooms and natural play areas are one of her favorite tools for outdoor learning!
Students explore seasons as spring wakes up around them! Get out on the trails and investigate adaptations, the diversity of life and ecosystem interactions. Dip for pond creatures, play concept-reinforcing games and experience spring in Indiana.
Wriggly, squiggly, wrinkly worms! Have you ever wondered what a worm’s life is like? What are they doing when you see them on the sidewalk or driveway? We will read An Earthworm’s Life by John Himmelman and then we will dig in the compost pile to see what we can find. After that, we will go for a short walk to see if we can find any worm dens or castings.
Don’t miss this opportunity to join Merry Lea at this free, family-friendly event designed to get people outside on Thursday, June 6, as part of a state-wide effort by Indiana Children and Nature Network (ICAN) Nature Play Days! There will be a variety of guided and self-guided activities to choose from all afternoon. Dip for tadpoles, create a craft, go on a hike, work on a scavenger hunt and so much more. Come explore the natural world in your own backyard!
Upcoming high school juniors and seniors can make Merry Lea their home for a week this summer during Conservation Leadership School! Camp overnight and explore a world full of natural resources and conservation. Canoe across glacial lakes, plan and run a community nature event, and get a taste of careers like botany, land management or sustainable agriculture. Enjoy an educational and rejuvenating week at our beautiful 1,189 acre nature sanctuary with peers and professionals inspired by the natural world.
