Charlotte’s only nature museum presents a month of activities to welcome the season of renewal

From helping with the influx of baby animals to planting vegetables in the Museum garden, there’s something for everyone this month as Discovery Place Nature celebrates the season of renewal.

In springtime, wildlife rehabilitators can be inundated with orphaned and injured baby animals. Come to the Museum at 12:30 p.m. on March 2 or March 6 as we hold a special Wildlife Baby Shower to collect supplies for rehabilitators to use this busy season. Bring a gift, listen to a fun baby animal story and play a few shower games to learn about wild little ones. A gift registry, which includes items such as paper towels, bleach, old bath towels and more, can be found on the event page.

The season is also a perfect time for planting, and many flowers are starting to sprout in nature. In Lettuce Get Our Hands Dirty, we invite everyone to learn about a plant’s lifecycle from seed to stalk and then plant some vegetables for our Museum garden.

Bring the outdoors in with our Waxy Watercolors program on March 16 and March 20. Choose from a variety of leaves found in Fort Wild and use them in new art techniques to make your very own watercolor to take home. From oaks and maples to hemlocks and paw paws, there are a variety of tree species to help you select unique leaves that will create an even more unique piece of art.

At last, we can head outdoors

As the weather turns warmer, be sure to join us March 2 for a leisurely Bird Walk around the exterior of the Museum building and in Freedom Park. We’ll be looking and listening for seasonal and resident birds found in Charlotte and the surrounding areas this time of year.

On March 9 and March 13, we’ll go Foraging in the Forest along the Museum’s Paw Paw Nature Trail to discover some of the edible plants you can find in the Carolinas. Then, on March 23, come take part in our Nature Walk around the Paw Paw Nature Trail. We’ll use our senses to discover the diversity of the bottom-land forest habitat.

On March 27, explore the Underwater Wonders of ponds and puddles as we learn about the animals that have made our Museum pond their home. We’ll discovery the different organisms, their many adaptations to living underwater and why they are so important to our environment.