WORKSHOPS with 15 Minute Field Trips™
Contact Melissa at 15minutefieldtrips@gmail.com
Most workshops two hours at $5/participant. Includes materials, set-up, running activity, and clean up. We come to you! Other options include guided hikes at various locations and custom-made STEAM activities tied to NGSS.
Download resources at
15 Minute Field Trips
WEBSITE: 15minutefieldtrips.blogspot.com
Fish Kites (Koi Nobori)
The Japanese celebrate the strength of their children by flying colorful carp streamers or kites in May. Celebrate your strength: physically, emotionally, and mentally, by building and decorating a rectangular prism "wind sock". We'll also look at patterns in local Rhode Island fish, from tiny golden shiners to long Northern pikes, pumpkinseeds, rainbow trout, and more!
Rock Stars (additional $15 charge per workshop on top of $5/participant)
Three rotating stations:
1. Explore rocks and fossils and do a fossil texture rub with crayon.
2. Use rocks (colored chalk) to tell a story (Mastery journey?) in the style of Anasazi petroglyphs (black paper and/or outside on sidewalk).
3. Paint "GOALS" or "Inspirational messages) on rocks to leave in public places or have at home.
Self-Defense Strategies
Learn how animals defend themselves through armor, speed, and camouflage. Create a chimera (mixed-up animal) with defenses of their choice. Includes many visuals, crayons, colored pencils, markers, paper, and a live pill bug petting zoo.
Frog vs. Toad Slime Wars
Learn about the 10 frog and toad species in RI, design a game card, and get ready for battle trivia as we pit frog against toad for the best survival skills! Winning team gets to pick the color of the slime, which we'll make after the battle. Includes blank cards and colored pencils, visuals, audio samples to learn frog and toad calls, and zip lock bags to take home slime.
Eyes on Owls
Learn about local owls in a guided drawing lesson, an owl detective game, and dissecting owl pellets! Helps build vocabulary and analyze clues through shapes, colors, and patterns. Requires 2 weeks advance booking for supplies. Additional $4 per owl pellet, which can be one per participant or one per group of four.
Bugeball
Gotta catch those bugs! Learn about the orders of insects and what jobs they do while drawing from real preserved specimens. Take this learning outside by catching insects and identifying them with field guides. This program is offered spring, summer, and fall and requires advanced booking if done at a site different from your own.
Ant Detective
Look closely! Ants are everywhere and we hardly notice! Using hoops and string, we’ll look from an ant’s point of view and tally up behaviors we observe. We’ll then create an underground treasure map with tunnels, worms, and more hidden underground.
Trash Turtles
Bring in clean “trash” to repurpose into turtles while learning how trash affects oceans and streams. Get inspired by the shell patterns of local species!
Ban the Bag
Create a “ripple” effect by painting a reusable bag in the style of Huichol yarn paintings, with ocean or freshwater animals with lots of water ripples. Use this bag proudly whenever you shop and avoid single-use plastic. Get tips on more ways to reduce single use plastics, one step at a time! Bags and other materials provided.
Climate Change Kachina
Learn about climate change and weather through a fun card game and Kachina spirit guides, such as wise Mongwu the owl, Badger the plant and medicine expert, Crow Mother who shares resources, and Cold-Bringing Woman who saves water for spring by turning it into snow. Create your own Kachina with repurposed materials.
Fish Frenzy
Learn about local fresh and salt-water fish. Create fish prints (Gyotaku) using repurposed, post-consumer Styrofoam trays and ink.
