New Early Childhood Education Programs

CBEC is pleased to announce the addition of new early childhood education programs especially designed for preschools.

In an effort to expand our early learning opportunities, the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center is pleased to offer environmental education programs especially for preschools looking for outreach or field trips. Crafted in line with Maryland’s Early Childhood Learning Standards, the classes are based on our popular Creepy Crawler Programs and designed for two-to-five year olds.

Students use their homemade binoculars to investigate CBEC’s Great Horned Owls.

The purpose of these programs is to provide early learning environmental opportunities which has been shown to foster skills that lead to school readiness and positive home learning. Each two-hour class will explore various topics of the natural world — from critters to composting — through games, crafts, live animals or artifacts, stories, and most importantly, hands-on participation.

Investigative hikes, dip netting for critters, planting seeds, and creating worm hotels are some of the hands-on fun that students will experience. Class topics include:

  • Wintery Waterfowl
  • Bones, Tracks, and Scat
  • What Is a Plant?
  • The Strange and Amazing Bat
  • Tadpoles and Frogs
  • Critters of the Bay
  • Turtle Tales
  • Oh Deer!
  • The Itsy-Bitsy Spider
  • From Seed to Sprout
  • Wonderful Worms

Classes can be scheduled as a field trip to our property or as an outreach program where CBEC’s educators go into the preschools.

Investigating who lives under a log.