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Mini Worlds

Activity

Creating a Landscape in a Jar and Bringing Places to Life

Choose a location anywhere in the world—real or imaginary—and recreate its landscape inside a jar or clear container. Like a terrarium, you can include items like dirt, sand, grass, rocks, or even small toys to represent mountains, rivers, or cities. Share clues about your jar-world for others to guess its location, or create a story about the people and culture that live there!

Science Seed

Geography involves studying the physical features of the Earth’s surface, including landforms like mountains, valleys, rivers, and deserts, as well as how humans interact with these features. The landscape of a region is shaped by processes such as tectonic activity (when the Earth’s plates shift), erosion (when wind or water wears away rocks), and weathering (when rocks break down due to exposure to the elements). For example, mountains are formed when tectonic plates push against each other, while rivers are created over time by the flow of water cutting through land. Deserts develop in areas where rainfall is minimal, and forests thrive in regions with plenty of water and sunlight. Understanding geography also involves looking at how people adapt to their surroundings, using natural resources for shelter, transportation, and agriculture. Different landscapes present unique challenges and opportunities for life, and this connection between land and people is central to geography.

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earn Badges

Badges can be earned through hands-on experiences within each of the 16 branches of science, or “Science Slices.” You can earn a badge in each branch of science by doing four activities in these categories. We also encourage participants to keep a Nature Journal to record their memories, and to express themselves creatively through writing or drawing after each activity. We recommend that each child (and parent if they’d like) write or draw in a journal after each activity, with expectations of your children that match their age (the goal is self-expression, not perfection).

Explore Billy Reagan K-8 Education Center

join Families in Nature

It is our vision to inspire all families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists. Becoming a member of Families in Nature will give your family the opportunity to have adventures in nature, experience field science, develop as youth conservation leaders, and make memories that will last a lifetime. Memberships are free for everyone.

Who are we?

Families in Nature works to create opportunities for nature connection with the purpose of sparking a deep love and desire to protect, conserve and restore the environment. Our mission is to connect children and their families to nature and to each other through time spent learning, playing, and volunteering outdoors. It is our vision to inspire ALL families to fall in love with nature and foster the next generation of conservationists.

This project was made possible by HEB.