Honor Juneteenth Every Day
Access our Juneteenth content, plus other resources, to learn how you can honor Juneteenth throughout your daily lives.
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The Illinois State Flower
Our friends from Karmak, Inc. are back to teach us all about our Illinois state flower: the purple violet!
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A Little Help from Some Friends
While a few plants form a symbiotic relationship with their pollinators, many plants and flowers are left to compete for the attention of potential pollinators. So, what’s the secret?
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All About Butterflies, Part 2
We're back with more about butterflies! Thanks to our friends at Karmak, Inc. for producing this video!
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All About Butterflies!
This week's online learning theme is butterflies! Stay tuned for a second installment all about butterflies!
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Monarchs: A Majestic Migration!
There is just something awe-inspiring about the thought of a Monarch butterfly fluttering its way along a 3,000-mile trek south to the mountain forests of Mexico...
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Let's Learn About Eggs!
Did you know that ostriches lay the world's largest eggs?! Watch the video to learn more and be sure to try out our craft from earlier this week, where we turned an egg into rubber!
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Honeybee Hives: A Matriarchal Matrix
Well, ladies, take a bow! Because virtually everything that happens in a honeybee hive is done by female honeybees!
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Learn More About Honey Bees!
Let's learn all about the fascinating life of a honey bee! Thank you to our friends at Karmak, Inc. for producing this video!
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Trending in the Hive: Waggle Dance
Imagine you’re a honeybee, just out-and-about, buzzing around under the bright blue sky of a brilliant Spring morning. Your luck gets even better when you bumble into a vivid patch of flowers oozing with nectar and bursting with pollen!
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Looking for Lepidopterans in Illinois!
While we may focus on Monarch butterflies for good reason, it doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate all the other Lepidopterans (butterflies and moths), too! In fact, our community and surrounding areas have the potential to attract interest from a wide range of butterflies and moths.
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We See You, Birds!
Birds are a fascinating class of animal! But what are they up to? Besides eating and growing and migrating, of course. What roles do they play in the big, wide world?
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To Be, or Not to Be…a Migrating Bird!
Most of us are probably familiar with the basics of bird migration. Birds come when it’s warm and leave when it starts to get cold. Simple! Except, of course, it’s not!
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Illinois State Bird
Today, we're learning about one type of bird that is very common in our state... The cardinal!
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Let's Learn About Bees!
Join Cara from Opus Dei Apiary in Rochester, IL as she teaches us all about bees!
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Bee-ing Seen in the Nature Scene
An initial wave of green washes over the fields and trees; a comforting sign that springtime is upon us. But so does a flower in full, vibrant bloom..
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Sow, The Seeds Have Sprouted?
It has been mentioned before but worth saying again: gardening is an awesome activity to take up with early learners…for a variety of reasons!
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Starting from Seed: Digging Deeper
So, the idea of gardening from seed seems intriguing, and everyone has put some thought into what they’d like to grow…now what?
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Seeds & Spring Just Grow Together
A minimal investment in basic supplies and a willingness to do it are all you need to get gardening! Well, kind of…
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Capturing the Beauty of Insects
Maria Sibylla Merian, born in 1647, was fascinated by butterflies from a young age...
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More Than A Human Computer
Annie Easley transitioned from human computing to programming the computers replacing her...
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The Einstein of Structural Engineering
Fazlur Khan was a Bangladeshi-American structural engineer and architect born in 1929...
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Let's Learn About Wheels!
Our Director of Learning & Public Programs teaches us about the science of wheels.
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This is Your Life: Birds!
From a bird’s eye view, the scientific class Aves is rather impressive! Of course, we love the roles birds play in pollination, but they are also critical to ecosystems and human interests.
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Little Hands and Kitchen Safety
From volcanoes to starting seeds, the kitchen just seems to have the right characteristics for scientific projects and pursuits. But, at some point, someone is going to have to make dinner!
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The Pollinators’ Oasis
Throughout the past week, pollination – and, specifically, pollinators – have been a theme. Unfortunately, most of the pollinators we covered have something in common: their existence is threatened...
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Nature’s Vast Pollinator Network
If we could ask a plant or flower, it would probably tell us that the most essential pollinator is whomever (or whatever) gets the job done! Today let’s pay homage to a few other creatures playing pivotal roles as pollinators!
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