Families (All Ages) | Activity

Join us for a fun seasonal craft! Create your very own custom wreath using our provided foraged materials.

Fee: $4 per program participant / Vehicle use fee may apply

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: RSVP Required.

Doors close 10 minutes after start time. Please cancel your reservation if you cannot attend.

Free Programming

All Ages | Activities, Crafts, and More

It’s winter time, and you know what that means…our favorite marine mammals are back in town! Celebrate all of the seal species that visit Long Island, and learn more about all different kinds of marine mammals in the world, like whales, dolphins, porpoises, otters, and more.

Crafts:

11:00am-11:45am, & 12:00pm-12:45pm Build your own seal! (All Ages, Recommmended 3+)

• Glue, paint, and googly eyes—craft a adorable carboard seal to decorate your home.

11:00am-3:00pm Otter Paper-Bag Puppets (All Ages)

Glue, paint, and googly eyes—craft a adorable carboard seal to decorate your home.

Activities:

11:00am-1:00pm Whale Sound Studio (Recommended Ages 7+)

• Do you think you know how to talk like a whale? Try our spectrogram and match your voice to a marine mammal.

1:00pm-3:00pm Touch Tank

• Join an educator to meet the hermit crabs, spider crabs, and snails in our touch tank.

2:00pm-3:00pm Marine Mammal Mysteries with Educator Doug

• What are your number one animal questions? Educator Doug knows it all! Learn about our local whales, seals, and more in a chat with Doug. Explore our marine mammal bone collection.

Games:

11:00am-3:00pm Solve the Riddle!

• Grab a riddle sheet from our front desk and look through our exhibits and special tables for answers—if you solve our riddle, you can earn a prize.

11:00am-3:00pm Bean Bag Otters & Pin the Fin on the Dolphin

• Pass by our craft room to try your hand at our otter corn-hole game or see if you can get a fin onto a dolphin!

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors.

Weather: In the case of inclement weather, all activities will be indoors.

RSVP: RSVP recommended to reserve your space for crafts.

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.

Adults & Teens (Ages 12+) | Volunteer Event

Ages 12 and up—all children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Plan to arrive by 10:00 am (schedule below). Help survey Jones Beach! NYS DEC and NYS Parks, with support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, hosts a Marine Debris survey and clean-up biannually. Come learn more about why this survey is so important! The duration depends on conditions but is expected to take 3-4 hours.

For this day at the beach, we will provide:

• PPE (gloves)

• Garbage bags

• Data recording materials

• Other equipment needed for the cleanup and survey

However, we ask that you please bring:

• Reusable water bottle

• Sun protection

• Weather appropriate clothing

• Closed toed shoes

• Lunch or light snack

Schedule:

10:00am—Welcome, Sign-in and registration (waivers and photo release) at Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center

10:30am—Introduction to staff, project, and research protocols

11:00am— Walk to beach

11:30 am—Survey and beach cleanup. Some groups will finish earlier than others. Survey's usually take between 2.5 - 5 hours depending on number of volunteers and the amount of trash present.

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Presented by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center with support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program

If there are questions, please feel free to reach out to francis.mcparland@dec.ny.gov or jbenc@parks.ny.gov.

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.

All Ages | Activity

How many names does one living thing have? Embark on a mission to meet familiar animals, plants, and more here at Jones Beach, and speak their Algonquin-language names.

Fee: Free / Vehicle use fee may apply

RSVP: RSVP Required.

Doors close 10 minutes after start time. Please cancel your reservation if you cannot attend.

Adults, and Families (Ages 6+) | Citizen Science

Join our educators for an exciting community science program to capture, tag, and release Monarchs. The Monarch Watch Tagging Program is a large-scale community science project that was initiated in 1992 to help understand the dynamics of the monarch's spectacular fall migration through mark and recapture.

1:30-1:40: Sign In, Volunteer Registration

1:40-2:00: What is a Monarch? Where are they migrating?

2:00-2:30: Capturing Monarchs

2:30-3:00: Tag & Release

Fee: Free / Vehicle use fee may apply

Outdoors/Indoors?: Outdoors

RSVP: RSVP Required.  

Program begins 10 minutes after start time. Please cancel your reservation if you cannot attend. 

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.

Adults, and Families (Ages 6+) | Citizen Science

Join our educators for an exciting community science program to capture, tag, and release Monarchs. The Monarch Watch Tagging Program is a large-scale community science project that was initiated in 1992 to help understand the dynamics of the monarch's spectacular fall migration through mark and recapture.

10:30-10:40: Sign In, Volunteer Registration

10:40-11:00: What is a Monarch? Where are they migrating?

11:00-11:30: Capturing Monarchs

11:30-12:00: Tag & Release

Fee: Free / Vehicle use fee may apply

Outdoors/Indoors?: Outdoors

RSVP: RSVP Required.  

Program begins 10 minutes after start time. Please cancel your reservation if you cannot attend. 

Adults, and Families (Ages 6+) | Citizen Science

Join our educators for an exciting community science program to capture, tag, and release Monarchs. The Monarch Watch Tagging Program is a large-scale community science project that was initiated in 1992 to help understand the dynamics of the monarch's spectacular fall migration through mark and recapture.

1:30-1:40: Sign In, Volunteer Registration

1:40-2:00: What is a Monarch? Where are they migrating?

2:00-2:30: Capturing Monarchs

2:30-3:00: Tag & Release

Fee: Free / Vehicle use fee may apply

Outdoors/Indoors?: Outdoors

RSVP: RSVP Required.  

Program begins 10 minutes after start time. Please cancel your reservation if you cannot attend. 

Adults and Families (Ages 6+) | Citizen Science

Join our educators for an exciting community science program to capture, tag, and release Monarchs. The Monarch Watch Tagging Program is a large-scale community science project that was initiated in 1992 to help understand the dynamics of the monarch's spectacular fall migration through mark and recapture.

1:30-1:40: Sign In, Volunteer Registration

1:40-2:00: What is a Monarch? Where are they migrating?

2:00-2:30: Capturing Monarchs

2:30-3:00: Tag & Release

Fee: Free / Vehicle use fee may apply

Outdoors/Indoors?: Outdoors

RSVP: RSVP Required.  

Program begins 15 minutes after start time. Please cancel your reservation if you cannot attend. 

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.

All Ages | Activity

In conjunction with Nassau County Girl Scouts’ Thin Mint Sprint, join for the after-party at Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center!

Anyone is welcome to play, whether you’re a scout or not! We have a series of programs designed with Girl Scouts badge requirements in mind.

12:00pm-1:00pm Chalk Art (Tied to Art in the Outdoors badges)

Listen to the sounds of nature, see wildlife and flowers, and make chalk art inspired by your observations.

1:00pm-2:00pm Monarch Tagging Talk and Pollinator Garden BioBlitz

Monarch butterflies are migrating, the bugs are buzzing, and we are going to catalog them—for science! Join us in the garden to help catch-and-release different pollinators.

2:00pm & 2:30pm Microplastics Beach Cleanup

Embark on a half-hour walk to find evidence of microplastics in our Jones Beach sand! Our educators need your help finding and identifying these pieces of garbage. Learn more about why they are so damaging to our ecosystem.

3:00pm-4:00pm Seashell Mandalas

Practice your patterns by arranging found natural materials into beautiful mandalas, and take a polaroid picture home to remember it by.

Outdoors/Indoors?: Both, this event is rain or shine

Fee: Free / Vehicle use fee may apply

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

All Ages | Tours

Drop in anytime during these hours to request a touch tank experience with an educator. Our educator will introduce you to hermit crabs and snails, some of which you might recognize from around Long Island!

Fee: Free

Outdoors/Indoors?: Indoors

RSVP: No RSVP needed, walk-ins welcome.

The experience typically takes about 15 minutes to explore the different animal species and shells we house in our tank.