Heritage Conservancy’s Environmental Education Programs

Heritage Conservancy is excited to share our interactive, nature-based programs with your school. We have programs designed for students from K-6, with more specialized experiences for older students on offer. Programs are available at Heritage Conservancy Nature Preserves and can also be brought to your schoolyard or classroom. See the descriptions below and email education@heritageconservancy.org for more information or to schedule a program for your classroom.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in Nature

Suggested grade range: K-6
Time of year: available year round
Length of program: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Students will go for a walk outdoors, stopping to practice different mindfulness techniques with nature. If time permits, they will do a nature journaling prompt to reflect on their walk. This program is a stepping stone to begin building connections with and understanding of nature and the local environment. Students will have a better understanding of mindfulness and how nature is a tool to help them.

“Soar Through Bucks County” Virtual Habitat Field Trip

Suggested grade range: 1-3
Time of year: available year round
Length of program: 45 to 60 mins
Join Heritage Conservancy for a virtual adventure and tour 5 of our preserves during an interactive presentation. Each of the properties feature unique plants, animals, and habitats. As we use Google Earth to “fly” to each preserve, we will learn what makes each habitat unique and what kinds of plants and animals live there. Students will listen to the Eastern Towhee at Croydon Woods and get to see live macroinvertebrates like aquatic snails, leeches, and dragonfly larva that can be found in the creek at Hart’s Wood. Students will close their eyes and pretend they are traveling through Quakertown Swamp on a warm spring evening, listening for Spring Peepers.

Bird Habitat Exploration

Suggested grade range: 1-3
Time of year: September – October, April – June
Length of program: 1 hour
Students will learn about a local native bird and its habitat requirements. They will then go on a walk to investigate the area for the bird’s habitat requirements, including food and water. Students will consider the human impacts on the environment and how that might affect local bird populations.

Wonders of Fall

Suggested grade range: 1-3
Time of year: October – November
Length of program: 1 hour
Students will take a walk outside and learn more about nature at this time of the year. They will look for colorful leaves, make a leaf rubbing and learn why trees lose their leaves in the fall. Students will have fun running an obstacle course and learn about bird migration and human impacts on bird migration.

Tree Guardians

Suggested grade range: 2-5 (can be adapted for older students)
Time of year: available year round
Length of program: variable, often multiple 1 hour sessions
Pennsylvania is known for its vast forests, with the many native tree species playing an important role in supporting wildlife and human communities. During this program students learn about the importance of trees, how to identify different native species and become protectors of the trees. By helping to care for the trees by installing a protective cage to prevent deer-browse and monitoring the trees’ growth over time, the students build a connection to the forest and gain real-world experience in skills related to an environmental science career.

Bats, Amphibians, and Wetland Food Webs

Suggested grade range: 2-5
Time of year: September – October and April – June (indoor version available year round)
Length of program: 45 minutes
What do these things have in common? They are more connected than you might think! Through outdoor exploration on preserves’ wetlands, students will search for plants, insects, and other animals that live in these ecosystems. They will learn about important bioindicators like frogs, salamanders and macroinvertebrates and about bats’ critical role in keeping insect populations in check.

The 3Ws: Watersheds, Water Cycle, and Water Quality

Suggested grade range: 3-5
Time of year: available year round
Length of program: 1 hour
This in-classroom workshop includes 3 stations students will visit. Students will get hands on with aquatic macroinvertebrates at our stream table, learning how water quality affects these creatures. Students will also visit the Enviroscape to learn about pollution and the watershed. The last station is an interactive session about the water cycle.

Pollution Problems and How Do We Solve Them

Suggested age range: 4-6
Time of year: available year round
Length of program: 1 hour
During these hands-on activities and discussions, students will learn about different types of pollution and the impacts they can have on environmental, human, and wildlife health. A range of activities are used to help students grasp these concepts. All programs end with a discussion to brainstorm solutions and daily actions that we can take to help solve these local environmental issues.

Heritage Conservancy also offers outdoor field experiences and environmental stewardship activities that can be part of a Meaningful Watershed Education Experience (MWEE). These can include visits to our preserves to do watershed studies, service projects and more. Projects that can improve your school grounds like planting pollinator gardens and installing fencing to protect trees from deer are also available. Please email to inquire more about these types of experiences.

For more information about these programs or to schedule a program, please email education@heritageconservancy.org.

Standards Addressed by Our Programs

Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Career Education and Work: 

3.1.K-2.C, 13.1.K-2.D, 13.1.3-5.D, 13.1.3-5.E: Tree Guardians

Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Health, Safety and Physical  Education: 10.2.3; 10.3.3: Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Social Studies Education: 7.4.2.A., 7.4.3.B, 7.4.4.B, 7.4.5.B,  7.4.6.B: The 3Ws: Watersheds, Water Cycle, and Water Quality, Bird Habitat Exploration, Soar Through Bucks County” Virtual Habitat Field Trip and At Home with Nature, Pollution Problems and How to Solve Them

Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Health, Safety and Physical  Education: 10.2.3; 10.3.3: Social Emotional Learning (SEL)