Nature Discovery
This trunk is based on tools and resources created or curated by the Montana Heritage Program. Its contents help community members explore Montana wildlife and habitats across a wide range of ages. Scale activities up or down to match your audience. Many of these activities are perfect for passive or active intergenerational programming.
Why Nature Discovery Programming?
Nature boosts health and well‑being
Just 120 minutes a week outdoors is linked to overall health and life satisfaction Time in nature improves mood, stress, attention, and emotional well‑being Green spaces support sleep, lower blood pressure, and reduced psychiatric risk
Nature programs reduce loneliness
Nature‑based group activities and programs can reduce social isolation Nature‑based social interventions can strengthen community bonds
Nature apps build confidence for all ages
Tools like Seek and iNaturalist make it easy for beginners to get started Learning to identify plants and wildlife encourages confident exploration Digital nature-learning tools can help learners connect with the natural world
Programming Tools and Resources
Using the Montana Field Guide along with iNaturalist and other statewide maps and dashboards to discover public information about Montana’s animals, plants, habitats, and land cover this programming has been developed to help you pair these library resources with citizen science tools to celebrate nature, community, reduce social isolation and deepen learning.
These helpful videos can help you and your patrons set up an iNaturalist account, make observations, edit observations, make identifications and subscribe to specific places.
Plug and Play Programming
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Service
References or links in these virtual trunks could change based on the purview of the content owners. The Montana State Library is not responsible for the website content, blogs, e-mails, videos, social media, programs, products and/or services of any other person, business or entity. Their views or content may not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services or the Montana State Library.
