Stay home and explore the Great Lakes with the HOMES@Homes series
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EmailThis series features fun-filled family friendly videos and hands-on activities highlighting different Great Lakes content.
Did you know?
- The Great Lakes are the world’s largest surface freshwater system providing 20 percent of the global supply! If you took all the water in the Great Lakes, about 6 quadrillion (6,000,000,000,000,000) gallons (or 22.7 quadrillion liters), it would cover the continental United States (all 48 states except Alaska and Hawaii) in about 10 feet of water.
- There are also about 34 million people who call the Great Lakes basin home across the United States and Canada, and more 3,500 species of plants and animals live in this system- including more than 170 different fish species.
Great Lakes lessons
There are so many interesting facts about the Great Lakes and the ways we, as humans, interact with this system, and to increase Great Lakes literacy, Michigan Sea Grant and MSU Extension are hosting the HOMES at Home series.
This series is full of Great Lakes fun facts, activity suggestions for your family, and daily challenges. Geared for families with scalable activities from younger to older learners, each lesson features different Great Lakes content and hands-on activities you can do right at home.
Videos will be live streamed and recorded on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 a.m.—11 a.m. throughout April. The first 20 minutes includes fun, engaging content, followed by 10 minutes for Q&A -- as well as a family challenge!
New sessions planned
Upcoming lessons include:
- Tuesday, April 21 – Great Lakes Invaders
- Thursday, April 23 – Mysterious, Misunderstood Mudpuppies
- Tuesday, April 28 – Terrific Turtles of the Great Lakes
- Thursday, April 30 – Cruise the Great Lakes
To watch the video via Zoom, visit https://msu.zoom.us/j/550958988.
Viewers can also watch virtually with friends on the MI Sea Grant Facebook Page, where it will be live streamed.
Families that complete 5 challenges from the different HOMES @ Home episodes can complete this Google form to receive a Great Lakes Jr. Scientist certificate to print and proudly display at home.
More available online
Catch up on past lessons, along with lots of other great Michigan Sea Grant videos and activities, on our website https://www.michiganseagrant.org/educational-programs/h-o-m-e-s-at-home/.
Past episodes featured the following topics and activities:
- Birdventures! Explore fascinating Great Lakes birds
- Make a bird feeder!
- Be a Great Lakes Hero: Stop marine debris!
- Make a REUSE-able t-shirt bag!
- One Fish, Two Fish, Make a Dish, Eat a Fish!
- Prepare a Great Lakes fish OR make a dish in the shape of a fish!
- Great Lakes, Great Films, Great Writers
- Write a poem, story OR make a video OR draw a picture featuring the Great Lakes or your favorite body of water!
- Lake Effect! The crazy winds of the Great Lakes
- Make a weathervane!
- Lake Sturgeon: Dinosaurs in the Great Lakes
- Help educate others about lake sturgeon!
- Exploring Herpetology: Fun with Amphibians and Reptiles
- Build a frog or toad house!
- Painting and Watercolors: Be inspired by the Great Lakes!
- Paint a picture, or a draw a picture, featuring what inspires you!
- Great Lakes BioBlitz: Get outside and explore nature!
- Share citizen science data about nature near your with iNaturalist and the Great Lakes Bioblitz challenge!
Each topic incorporates Great Lakes Literacy Principles helping increase understanding and stewardship of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are a valuable resource, and with more Great Lakes stewards, we can help better protect this valuable resource and all the life connected to it.
Michigan Sea Grant helps to foster economic growth and protect Michigan’s coastal, Great Lakes resources through education, research and outreach. A collaborative effort of the University of Michigan and Michigan State University and its MSU Extension, Michigan Sea Grant is part of the NOAA-National Sea Grant network of 34 university-based programs.
