In 2024, the Estuary Program greatly expanded our education programming by partnering with various organizations and nonprofits to provide environmental education opportunities for youth. We held our own field trips with classrooms all year long and joined other groups to support their summer programming. From June to August alone, we reached nearly 700 kids throughout San Luis Obispo County, ranging from toddlers to teenagers. This blog shares some of the highlights of our new education efforts from 2024 and looks ahead to what we have planned in 2025.
Morro Bay Junior Guards
The goal of the Morro Bay Junior Guards Program is to introduce young people to marine and aquatic recreational opportunities while equipping them with the skills to keep themselves and others safe in the ocean. The program aims to enhance physical conditioning, foster an understanding and respect for the environment, and promote respect for themselves, their parents, and their peers. Junior Guards campers practice skills including open water swimming, paddleboarding, and self-rescue. They also learn basic life-saving skills such as CPR and swimmer rescues. You can learn more about Junior Guards at the Morro Bay city website.
The Estuary Program worked with the Junior Guards to provide locally relevant environmental education programming at every session. Each Junior Guard camper got the opportunity to experience our hands-on watershed model. By placing “pollutants” (colored corn starch and sprinkles) on the model and adding water, kids can witness the movement of pollution through a watershed. They are encouraged to connect what they’re seeing on the model with the real watershed where they live. After working with the model, the Junior Guards picked up trash on the beach, dunes, and bike path near Morro Rock. Over the course of the summer, they picked up over 16 pounds of trash, making the beach a cleaner and safer place for wildlife and people.
Morro Bay Little Guards
The Morro Bay Little Guards is a two-week program that provides kids ages five to nine with the opportunity to experience and learn about the ocean. Little Guards consists of two weeks of activities including ocean swims, sand games, boogie boarding, paddling, surfing, and a variety of marine ecology lessons. The goal is for participants to be able to stay safe and have fun in our beautiful coastal environment. You can learn more about Little Guards at www.morrobaylittleguards.com.
The Estuary Program taught hands-on environmental education lessons for the Little Guards this past summer. Like Junior Guards, the Little Guards campers used the watershed model to learn about pollution and watershed health. In addition, campers played a variety of fun games and activities in which they learned about local ecosystems, habitats, and species, as well as what they can do to protect them.
San Luis Obispo County Libraries Storytime
San Luis Obispo County Libraries offers storytimes across the 14 libraries in SLO County. Storytime is a free and fun early literacy opportunity where kids can expand their vocabularies, engage with new perspectives, socialize, and blossom into readers. It’s also a time when caretakers can get guidance on encouraging early literacy skills at home. In addition to storytime, SLO County Libraries hosts county-wide family literacy programming throughout the year. More information about storytimes and all other library events can be found on their online calendar.
At storytime events at the Arroyo Grande, Morro Bay, Los Osos, and San Luis Obispo libraries, Estuary Program staff shared books and activities related to local ecosystems and wildlife like estuaries and sea otters so that kids and families could learn more about the ecology of where they live. Library staff coordinated with our staff to lead songs and movement activities that related to the storybook themes.
Creek Lands Conservation
Creek Lands Conservation hosted their inaugural Central Coast Youth Environmental Stewardship (CC YES) camp program this past summer. CC YES is a free, all-outdoor education initiative ensuring equitable access for youth from Santa Maria and Guadalupe. Led by bilingual teachers in English and Spanish, the program featured diverse local guest speakers and covered a range of topics including watershed science, native ecology, and species identification. The program aims to empower the next generation by fostering climate literacy, personal growth, and a connection to their local environment. By building skills for sustainable decision-making and comfort in various natural elements, CC YES instills hope, creativity, and resilience in its participants, preparing them to be environmental stewards. You can learn more about CC YES at the Creek Lands website.
Each day of the CC YES camp, kids visited a different part of SLO County, starting inland and ending at the coast. Estuary Program staff worked with Creek Lands to offer place-based educational opportunities during the camp’s estuary day. Campers visited the Estuary Program Nature Center, where they learned about the Morro Bay estuary and watershed. Next, they headed up Black Hill to observe the habitat and try new nature journaling activities. From the top of the hill, campers were able to see many of the sites they had visited earlier in the week and understand how every place they had visited was connected to the larger ecosystem.
Looking Ahead to 2025
In 2025, the Estuary Program will continue hosting between three and five field trips a month with classrooms. We will also be hosting the second year of a collaborative educator workshop series on coastal ocean literacy. These workshops will bring together 25 educators from throughout California to learn about coastal ocean literacy, nature journaling, watershed science, and Project WET curriculum to then bring to their classrooms.
Stay tuned for what we have planned for our summer 2025 programming!
Educational Opportunities with the Estuary Program
The Estuary Program offers free field trips and environmental education programming to schools, nonprofits, and other organizations throughout the year. Our programming is generally based in the Morro Bay estuary and watershed and focuses on local species, habitats, ecosystems, and more. If you are interested in partnering with us on education opportunities, you can visit our field trips webpage, or email outreach.support@mbnep.org.
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