Disclaimer: We received this class complimentary from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. If we enjoyed the class, I was asked to help promote their program. As always, opinions are my own.

Oh deer, did we have a hootin’ & howlin’ good time at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s (CMNH) at Home Education Program called ‘Owls & Howls’!

What is the CMNH Home Education Program?

The Home Education program offers an incredible opportunity for families to engage in high quality & diverse natural history educational topics at home. It is open to children ages Pre-Kindergarten to High School.

This particular program topic, ‘Owls & Howls’, was created by Ms. Julia and Ms. Megan at the CMNH for their National Geographic Educator Certification for Fall 2020. They will be completing lesson plans and detailing their experience over the coming weeks in order to complete their certification!

‘Owls & Howls’ explored Ohio’s native animals, their habitats, how they adapt to the Ohio environment, and how CMNH provides animal enrichment to their inhabitants in the Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center & Woods Garden.

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If you are not familiar with the Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center & Woods Garden, each animal has come to the center as part of a rescue and rehabilitation effort, and none can be released back into the wild successfully. So providing enrichment to these animals is incredibly important!

What was the program like?

My children participated in the Pre-K to Kindergarten program. The program was age appropriate and engaging for them (ages 3 & 5). They had fun dressing up like their favorite Ohio animals, a deer and an owl, too!

They explored animals from various habitats around Ohio including wetlands, woodlands, and grasslands. The native animals included bobcats, owls, coyotes, ducks, frogs, fish, snakes, etc. The educators were excellent with the children. They asked very engaging questions and offered various opportunities for learning. These included videos, photos, movement, and live demonstrations.

The multi-media for this program was impressive to me. It was extremely well organized, which made it incredibly easy for children to follow along, explore, and learn in a variety of interactive ways. It was almost like being at the museum and learning in person!

At the end of the program, the educators also provided an ‘extension activity’ so that children can apply what they learn!

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Would you recommend this program to other families?

ABSOLUTELY! This program was informative, educational, age appropriate, and FUN!

My children both walked away with knowledge about animal habitats and also a much better appreciation for how animals adapt to their environments.

I loved it so much that I hope that CMNH considers opening a program like this up to schools as a “virtual” field trip option. With the ongoing pandemic, most schools are not allowing field trips so outside enrichment is difficult to find. I truly believe that both teachers and students would LOVE a program like this!

What did your children think?

“This program was awesome! I loved it so much! I loved learning about animal habitats and it was a lot of fun.” – my 5 year old.

“I really liked seeing all the animals and learning about where they live.” – my 3 year old.

As you can see, they were big fans too!

How do I register for this program?

If you wish to register for this program, you can go to the CMNH website’s Discover Academy for Home Education link, select the program or programs that interest you, then click ‘register now’. Or you can call the museum directly. Museum members receive a discount on registration.

Next months topic is all about ‘Indigenous People of Ohio’. By ‘owl’ means, check out this upcoming program. We hope to see you there with us! You won’t be disappointed and you don’t even have to live in Cleveland to participate!

-Kristen