Project Boxes

Africa’s savannas are known for rolling grasslands, beautiful skies, and amazing animals like elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, rhinos, cheetahs, and more. In this box, learn how these animals live and play in this ecosystem and make your own edible savanna.

PROJECT:
Make acacia trees; build an edible African savanna (wheatgrass)

BOOK:
One Day on our Blue Planet...In the Savannah

AGES: 
4-9

WHAT’S INCLUDED:
All of our Project Boxes include a detailed Project Guide with background information and activity instructions, a relevant book, and most materials needed to complete the activity. For some boxes, there will be some at-home supplies needed.

In this box, kids will travel to the Congo River Basin to learn all about the animals that call it home and the habitat! 🦍🌴🐘🐆🦛 The Congo River Basin is an incredibly diverse ecosystem that provides food, freshwater, shelter and medicine for tens of millions of local and Indigenous people, as well as a home to many well-known, and critically endangered animals. Explorers will learn all about these incredible animals, why they are so important to their ecosystems, and what would happen if they become extinct. 🌍☹️

PROJECT:
Kids will create their own amazing mud putty to build their Congo River Basin floor (bonus, it smells like chocolate 🍫😎) and then design their own rainforest scene! 

BOOK:
If Elephants Disappeared

WHAT’S INCLUDED:
All of our Project Boxes include a detailed Project Guide with background information and activity instructions, a relevant book, and most materials needed to complete the activity. For some boxes, there will be some at-home supplies needed.

Does your child ever wonder how animals survive in winter - why some birds fly south; squirrels stick around and frogs and insects disappear? Animals either hibernate, migrate or adapt during winter to survive. Those animals who adapt have some seriously awesome animal super powers.

In this project box, kids will learn about the science of hibernation 😴, the animals who migrate🧳, and the hardcore animals who adapt to their environment 💪🌎.

PROJECT:
Learn how wood frogs adapt in winter and create a model of their winter environment. Learn the science behind hibernation in a movement-based experiment.

BOOK:
Do Frogs Drink Hot Chocolate?" by Etta Kaner and John Martz

WHAT’S INCLUDED:
All of our Project Boxes include detailed project guides with background information and activity instructions, a relevant book, and most materials needed to complete the activity. For some boxes, there will be some at-home supplies needed.

Did you know that birds start building their nests based on the length of the day? As the days get longer there is more sun and more food, signaling to birds that it is the right time to build a nest and raise babies. Different birds make their nests using different materials. Some gather sticks, grass, and leaves to pile together, while others use tree branches, mud, stones, or even their own saliva…yuck!

PROJECT:
Build your own nest using materials you find in nature and around your neighborhood.

BOOK:
Mama Built a Little Nest

Ages: 
4-9

WHAT’S INCLUDED:
All of our Project Boxes include a detailed project guide with background information and activity instructions, a relevant book, and most materials needed to complete the activity. For some boxes, there will be some at-home supplies needed.

Coral reefs are the most diverse of all marine ecosystems – because of this diversity, coral reefs are often called the rainforests of the sea. Coral reefs provide food and shelter for marine life like fish, lobsters, clams, seahorses, sponges, andsea turtles. Corals are unfortunately severely impacted by climate change.  With rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification due to increasing carbon dioxide levels, pollution, over-fishing, habitat loss from coastal developments, and the creation of jewelry and souvenirs, the reefs are dying around the world.

In this box, kids will learn all about the amazing coral reefs, the ecosystem they provide to the marine animals around them and why they are so endangered.  As part of our Environmental Leaders series, kids will also learn all about Ken Nedimyer, a coral restoration pioneer whose work on the reefs of the Florida Keys is helping to save critically endangered species.  

PROJECT:
Build a candy coral reef

BOOK:
The Brilliant Deep

WHAT’S INCLUDED:
All of our Project Boxes include a detailed Project Guide with background information and activity instructions, a relevant book, and most materials needed to complete the activity. For some boxes, there will be some at-home supplies needed.

NOTE: This project contains food (marshmallows, licorice laces, powdered sugar and sprinkles).

Do you know a kid who loves skyscrapers or city buildings? Are there children in your life who like to build projects with their hands, or budding gardeners looking for a new snack they can grow indoors? Well, our new project box checks all those boxes!

In this project box, kids will learn how different types of roofs affect the environment. They will also discover how cities benefit from green roofs by designing their own urban home using a cardboard model included in the box, and building an edible "green roof" for the top using dun pea shoot seeds and soil (also included). We finish it off with a bonus recipe card to inspire the whole family to try your new, freshly grown microgreens.

PROJECT:
- Create and design an urban house (cardboard model included)  🏘♻️
- Build an edible green roof 🌱

BOOK:
"Green, Green: A Community Gardening Story" by Marie Lamba and Baldey Lamba

AGES: 
4-9

WHAT’S INCLUDED:
All of our Project Boxes include detailed Project Guide with background information and activity instructions, a relevant book, and most materials needed to complete the activity. For some boxes, there will be some at-home supplies needed.

Did you know that all bugs are insects but not all insects are bugs? Insects prefer warmer areas over cold ones, but they live on every continent in the world - even Antartica! Insects are the largest group of animals on earth and they are also incredibly important to protecting and sustaining ecosystems across the globe!

Our Insect Box now features a brand new book and a brand new activity!  As part of our Environmental Leaders series, kids will learn all about Evelyn Chessman who took charge of the London Zoo's Insect House and then spent her life traveling the world to discover new insect species.  In this project box, explorers will learn all about insects and bugs, what makes them different and why they are so important to ecosystems. Kids will construct their own insect model and make some gooey YELLOW ladybug slime. 🐛🦋 This box is crawling with fun! 😎

PROJECT:
Construct an insect model and make lady bug slime!

BOOK: 
Evelyn the Adventurous Entomologist by Christine Evans

(Also, check out A Beetle is Shy, Ladybugs, and Are you a Ladybug? in our Books Section!)

WHAT’S INCLUDED:
All of our Project Boxes include detailed project guides with background information and activity instructions, a relevant book, and most materials needed to complete the activity. For some boxes, there will be some at-home supplies needed.

This project box explores the life of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Wangari Maathai, who in 1977 founded the Green Belt Movement, an African grassroots organization that has empowered many people to mobilize and combat deforestation, soil erosion, and environmental degradation. As part of our Environmental Leaders series, kids will learn all about why Dr. Maathai's Green Belt Movement was not only important for the environment, but also the African women's movement.  

In this project box, your explorer will learn all about Dr. Wangari Maathai and will build an edible model of the Green Belt using microgreens.

PROJECT: 
Build your own edible Green Belt!

BOOK: 
Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli

All of our Project Boxes include detailed project guides with background information and activity instructions, a relevant book, and most materials needed to complete the activity. For some boxes, there will be some at-home supplies needed.

We all do it. Dogs sniff it, kids laugh about it, babies have diapers full of it, and grown-ups get grossed out by it, but the fact remains - poop is a part of life. In addition to spreading countless hours of laughter to kids all over the world, did you know poop also contains clues about the animals living in your neighborhood? In fact, scientists learn about animals, and their ecosystems by studying their poop! In this project box, kids learn to identify different types of animal poop (scat) with a rad board game; they create "scientific replicas" using clay, a fact-based project board, and their imaginations; and then round out the day by making edible wombat bites (brownies)! 💩✨

PROJECT:
Learn to identify different types of scat, create fact-based sculptures, and make wombat bites.

*GAME:
Who Pooped? A Matching & Memory Game

This Project Box includes a detailed Lesson Plan with background information and activity instructions, a game, and most materials needed to complete the activity. For some boxes, there will be some basic at-home supplies needed.