Have an ice day with us at Merry Lea! Come explore how ice affects plants and animals living in Northern Indiana. We’ll search for creatures coping with the cold outside and make use of ice in many ways including experimenting, building, and playing.
The 7th annual Michiana Regional Seed Swap is a resource for residents in Michiana and beyond to exchange and learn about seeds. Join fellow gardeners, growers and plant enthusiasts to exchange and gather seeds, compare and discuss varieties, attend educational sessions and more. The swap will include vegetable/garden crops as well as native plants.
Join us for a bird hike on the trails around the Learning Center. Regardless of experience levels, we will all work together to discover birds who are spending their winter around Merry Lea. After the hike, we’ll warm up inside with continental breakfast items while we submit our observations to the Great Backyard Bird Count. Please dress to be outside for up to 1-1.5 hours on uneven trails. There will be some binoculars available to borrow if you don’t have your own. This event is designed for adults (18+).
Join us to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, a worldwide project to explore what birds are nearby! We will practice using binoculars and start learning how to recognize birds at our bird feeders. We will also spend time on trails near the Learning Center to find birds and clues that birds are around. Our observations will be contributed to the Great Backyard Bird Count. Come dressed to be outside on unpaved trails for at least an hour. Bring binoculars or borrow some of ours. All experience levels are welcome! This event is specifically for adults bringing children ages 6+.
Join Merry Lea for a two-day immersion into nature-based education. At the core of this professional development opportunity there will be multiple site visits to observe preschool and elementary students engaging with nature. Ask educators about their pedagogy, and experience a variety of educational styles through the eyes of many passionate educators integrating the outdoors into their curriculum.
The IMN program features various nature topics for folks to discover Indiana's outdoor world through hands-on activities, outdoor investigations, volunteering and learning from local experts across different career paths, interests and organizations.
Wade through the waters of a wetland to discover what organisms live in our wetlands! Investigate how wetlands are a special ecosystem for many different types of plants and animals by using our wetland lab to identify macroinvertebrates. Explore the ways wetlands provide a home for many organisms and how they benefit humans too.
Join us as we explore the power of pollinators this spring. Hike around different ecosystems to explore the wide variety of pollinators that are out and about. Tromp through a meadow to catch pollinators, investigate signs of pollination, examine parts of flowers and more!
