Scout Programs

Discover the science of the shore, have fun, and earn a scout badge exploring the habitats of Sandy Hook. The New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium (NJMSC) is pleased to offer programs that combine the wonders of the sea with badge requirements.

To schedule a program for your Scout group.

• The staff of NJMSC will conduct all activities listed under the badge program requested (see above). Please consult the Scout Handbook for complete descriptions and requirements of badges.

• All programs last approximately 2-3 hours.

• Programs are available weekends and after school during the months of April, May, September, and October. Scheduling is flexible on weekends, however they may not start until 10:00 am and must end by 3:30 pm; after school programs run from 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm.

• During the months of June, July, and August programs are available during the week, scheduling is also flexible, but may not start until 9:30 am and must end by 3:30 pm.

• The scout badge programs are only available for a max of 60 scouts on weekends and after school dates. We may be able to provide for larger groups during the week in summer months or times during school vacations.

• Cost is $135.00 (for up to 20 scouts). $7.00 each additional scout.

• Troop leaders and adult chaperones may participate in scout programs at no cost, however they will be expected to be of assistance and support to our instructors.

• If your den/troop does not meet the scout minimum please contact other dens/troops that may qualify to meet scout minimum.

• If scout would not like to complete a badge program, but would still like to schedule a field trip to Sandy Hook please contact us for further information.

To schedule a program for your Scout group.

Animals

Brownies will visit the Salt Marsh environment and participate in activities in NJMSC’s classroom in Building #22. Scouts will complete all the requirements to earn the Animals badge.

Caring for Animals - Learn what it takes to care for a fish, crabs, shrimp and turtles. Scouts will help care for the animals here at NJMSC.

Understanding Animals - Scouts will visit Sandy Hook in the Gateway National Recreational Area. Learn what the differences are between domesticated animals and wild animals, what the park does to protect wildlife, plus discover interesting facts about the wildlife (mollusks, crustaceans and fish) here on Sandy Hook.

Creature Moves and Sound Charades - Scouts will play a game of Charades and learn how the creatures of Sandy Hook move and how they sound. (This game can be mailed to the troops in advance to play before or after their visit)

Looks Mean Something - While seining in the Salt Marsh scouts will observe wild animals they catch in the net, plus discover the special features and adaptations these animals possess to survive in the marsh

EARTH AND SKY

Scouts will visit the ocean at Sandy Hook’s North Beach to learn all about sand, shells, sea and the sky. Scouts will complete the following activities towards the Earth and Sky badge:

Can You Dig It? - Scouts will participate in random sampling to learn about the different zones found at the beach. They will observe the sand, shells and other organisms with magnifying glasses and try to identify what was found. They will use a shovel to discover what can be found living in the sand and discover where it's possible to dig down to the water.

Hot Time in the Sun - Scouts will measure the temperature differences at the beach and on the inland. Weather permitting; scouts will participate in an experiment to find out what happens to water when it heats up in the sun.

Going Going Gone - On beach hike your NJMSC guide will discuss coastal erosion, how the beaches at Sandy Hook were formed and why the lighthouse is so far away from the shore. Scouts will learn how the dunes help protect the beach and how waves effect our shoreline.

Sky Watching - Scouts will observe skies of the beach, and then make their own sky at the beach picture.

Creatures of the Air - At a shorebird sanctuary nearby the Scouts will go bird watching on the beach, they will identify, and learn the importance of shorebirds to our environment.

eCO- EXPLORER

Brownies will explore the Salt Marsh, go seining, and play a game about the food chain back at the NJMSC classroom, Building #22. The following activities will be done to help scouts earn this badge:

Exploring nature - Scouts will go on a scavenger hunt in the marsh to find both living and nonliving things.

What’s a habitat? - Scouts will find out what is a habitat and explore the marsh to find animals living in their own natural habitat.

Make a habitat - Scouts will discover, with the help of your NJMSC guide, what the animals living in the marsh use for food, shelter, and space. Scouts will take objects found in the marsh and make a temporary living habitat for an animal. Then the scouts will observe the behavior of the animal in its temporary home Scouts will release animal into its natural habitat before leaving the marsh.

Food Chain - Scouts will make a food chain craft of native shore animals to take home.

Helping Wildlife - Scouts will become “Stewards of the Bay” during a mini-beach clean up at the marsh. Scouts will learn how pollution affects wildlife and what they can do to help keep our bay and ocean clean.

WATER EVERYWHERE

Brownies will visit the Salt Marsh to go seining and participate in classroom activity at NJMSC Building #22. Scouts will complete the following requirements to earn the Water Everywhere badge.

Made of Water - Scouts will discover how many different foods have water as an ingredient.

Water Snooper - Before heading over to the marsh, scouts will make a water snooper to observe animals found at the marsh.

Water Explorer - Scouts will go seining to find creatures and plants living in the salt marsh. Scouts will also learn about the different bodies of water they can find here at Sandy Hook.

Water Layers - During a water layering experiment the scouts will learn how salt water is so different from fresh water.

Earth Connections

This Scout Badge has two options to choose from a Salt Marsh or Ocean Beach program, each involves scouts exploring their connection to the sea and studying the ecology of a barrier beach environment. During this program scouts will complete the following activities during their NJMSC program to help them complete this badge:

Be an Ecologists - Scouts will hike along the beach or through the marsh, they will survey plants and animals present, learn about the different zones of the marsh and beach, measure the temperature of air, sand and water, look at soil/sand layers, and learn what the soil/sand is made of.

Traveling Through Time - Scouts will discuss the succession of barrier beach environments and how the shape of Sandy Hook has changed over time.

Eco Games - Scouts will play game “web of life” to discover feeding relationships in our ocean.

Saving Plants and Animals - Scouts will find out what the park does to protect animals and plants on Sandy Hook (bird sanctuary, nests for osprey, no collection of any plant or animal species, survey populations).

Adapt or Perish - While seining at the marsh or exploring the beach, scouts will learn about the special features and adaptations of sea animals found on the Jersey shore from their NJMSC guide.

Plants and People - On a plant walk scouts will learn how to identify five plants native to Jersey Shore and how Lenape Indians utilized many species of plants to live.

WILDLIFE

This badge has two options; scouts can choose to study the wildlife found on an ocean beach or wildlife found in a salt marsh. Scouts will go in search of plant and animal life on Sandy Hook and discover how the wildlife has adapted to living on the beach or marsh environment. Scouts will complete all requirements to earn the Wildlife Badge.

Wildlife Symbol Party - Scouts will learn all about NJ’s state shell, the knobbed whelk and other NJ symbols.

It’s all in the details - Scouts will create a postcard based on the most interesting thing they saw on their NJMSC field trip to Sandy Hook.

We are Family - While seining or exploring the beach, a NJMSC guide will point out characteristics that 2 different families of shore animals share.

Touch Me Not - While the scouts are on a plant or dune walk they will learn how to identify poisonous plants here at Sandy Hook.

Staying Alive - identify and discuss 2 endangered or threatened animals (horseshoe crab, osprey, diamondback terrapin, sea turtles, piping plover, egret, come back of striped bass.), plus discuss scouts can help protect these animals.

Take a closer look - At the ocean beach Scouts will use magnifying lens to solve a mystery surrounding clam shells. At the marsh scouts will learn how to use plankton net and use field scope to identify the plankton they catch.

Animal Watcher - While seining scouts will observe the behaviors of animals they find in Sandy Hook bay. At the beach scouts will go shorebird watching at a bird sanctuary located on the beach. Scouts will learn how to identify shorebirds by their markings, shape and behaviors.

WATER WONDERS

Scout will visit the salt marsh for a hike and seining, plus participate in classroom activities at NJMSC Building #22. Scouts will complete all the requirements for the Water Wonders Badge:

It’s In a Cycle - Scouts will learn about the water cycle, different forms of water, evaporation, transpiration, condensation, role of sun in providing energy, and the aquatic food chain.

Not Enough? - Scouts will learn about the places in the world where there is not enough water and discuss what they can do to conserve water.

Life Underwater - Scouts will go seining in the salt marsh to catch live organisms to observe and with the help of their NJMSC guide will learn about animal adaptations to living in tidal waters.

Water Food Chain - Scouts will filter the water for the bottom of the food chain, plankton, plus scouts will use microscopes to identify the plankton they find.

A Balanced Life - Scout will learn about the balance of life in an aquarium, scouts will participate in the feeding of our animals, and learn what it takes to care for an aquarium.

Just Add Salt - Scouts will find out the differences between fresh and salt water, measure salinity, and before leaving, wash hands with salt and fresh water to find out what water makes more suds.

WOLVES

During this program scouts will visit the ocean at North Beach and may complete the three following activities to help earn their badge and complete electives towards the arrow point trail.

Start a Collection Achievement - Scouts will learn all about the seashells and other interesting “beach finds” on the Jersey Shore as they go for a beach hike to make their own shell collection.

Outdoor Adventure - Scouts will complete the electives, help run a den outing and identify poisonous plants.

Birds - Scouts will make a list of all the birds they saw in a week as they go bird watching at a shorebird sanctuary on North Beach.

BEARS

Sharing Your World With Wildlife - Scouts will visit Sandy Hook’s salt marsh at Horseshoe Cove and NJMSC’s classroom to complete this achievement of the Bear Trail to help earn their badge. Scouts will also learn about the importance of estuaries to our wildlife, go in search of wildlife while on a marsh hike and seining in the marsh. With a NJMSC guide scouts will discuss endangered species and animals that have become extinct. Scouts will also visit NJMSC’s classroom to make a poster about their favorite animals they saw on their visit to Sandy Hook and learn what it takes to be an educator about sea life.

WEBELOS

Naturalist- Scouts will earn this badge on a exploration of Sandy Hook’s salt marsh at Horseshoe Cove, where they will complete these requirements with the help of their NJMSC Instructor.

1. Visit a nature center- Scouts will visit NJMSC and learn about the animals we care for.
2. Learn about birds flyways- Go bird watching and learn about the migrating birds that use Sandy Hook as a resting and breeding ground.
3. Learn to identify poisonous plants and venomous animals- Find out why there are so many poisonous plants but no venomous animals on Sandy Hook.
4. Watch six wild animals in the wild; describe the kind of place where you saw them, tell what they were doing- while seining in the water capture, fish, crabs, snails and shrimp, discover the special features and adaptations animals have to survive in a salt marsh.
5. Give examples of a producer, a consumer, and a decomposer in the food chain of an ecosystem- while exploring life in the marsh discover how all the plants and animals fit into the marine food web.
6. One way humans have changed the balance of nature- Learn about what happened to the magnificent bird of prey, the Osprey, and their come back to our marshes. (During the spring scouts may find and learn about the amazing horseshoe crab and how humans are effecting their populations).
7. How they can help protect the balance of nature- Discover what is a watershed and how can you effect and protect them.

*To complete the badge scouts must discuss with their parent, guardian or troop leader the Respect Character Connection.

BOY SCOUTS

Oceanography Merit Badge - On a fun “hands on” ocean experience at Sandy Hook the Boy Scouts will complete activities 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7a, with the help of a NJMSC Instructor to help earn the Oceanography Merit Badge. Scouts will explore the salt marsh and discover why the oceans are important to people. Activities include measuring water quality, studying waves, currents, plankton collection and identification, and seining in Sandy Hook Bay. If scouts choose they may finish the badge by writing a 500-word report about their visit to our facility, or give a 5-minute speech about Oceanography to their troop. A pre-program activity packet will be sent to your troop before the program, which includes directions on how to make plankton net. The packet and plankton net MUST be completed and brought to the scheduled program. We have a certified merit badge counselor on site. This program last approximately 4hrs and scouts will need transportation to the Marsh site.

Monmouth Council Badge

During this 3-hour program scouts will visit the salt marsh to go seining and explore the ocean beach, they will also make visit to NJMSC’s education center and learn all about the history of Sandy Hook. They will complete seven of the following activities to earn their badge:

1. Before scouts make their way to the ocean beach they will learn the importance of sand dunes and how fragile they are, they will discuss how to preserve the natural formation of the beach and dunes. They will go for a guided beach walk.
2. While seining in the marsh and during a beach walk, scouts will learn how to identify and go in search of seaside plants, seashells, animals living in the water, and other interesting shore “finds”.
3. Instructor will lead a discussion on the danger of plastics to sea life and the balance of life, and what the scouts can do to prevent damage caused by our society.
4. Scouts will be able to interview their Marine Science Instructor to find out the details about her job.
5. Scouts will learn all about a barrier island (sand bar) and compare its two most diverse and fascinating environments- the salt marsh and ocean beach. They will identify seaside foliage and search life thriving in each environment.
6. Scouts will discover the living fossil, the Horseshoe crab. They will have the opportunity to observe and touch a live horseshoe crab while being led in a discussion about this intriguing creature and the laws protecting them. After the discussion the scouts may propose a new law that could help protect the horseshoe crab.
7. While visiting NJMSC, located in the historic army base Ft. Hancock, scouts will learn all about the history and changes of Sandy Hook, from the Lenape Indians and the Sandy Hook lighthouse, to the changes happening today.

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