Marine Biology Educational Program

Be a Marine Biologist!

Summer is the time to be active outdoors and we provide activities including canoeing, swimming, nature walks, and exploring the salt marshes and rocky intertidal zones at Hammonasset State Park.  

Our program participants have the opportunity to spend a week with real marine biologists! We maintain small session sizes each week running with 4 participants and a child to instructor ratio of 2 to 1, which means participants not only form bonds with their peers but also with the counselors. This allows our future scientists to perform scientific experiments that include looking at the abundance of the different species present in numerous habitats. Working in small groups also provides a more personalized setting allowing for fun AND learning.   

Each day of our program begins with launching canoes in Clinton Harbor! We then take tours up the Hammonasset River and through the surrounding salt marshes. At high tide, we go further into the marsh to compare and contrast marsh and harbor animals. At low tide, we visit the mudflats adjacent to our marina, which is always a favorite! 

Under the supervision of our biologists, everyone collects creatures such as crabs and fish! We complete this field collection in areas including rivers, salt marshes, intertidal zones, beaches, and mudflats. Animals caught throughout the week are brought back to the lab to be kept in each group's own saltwater aquarium for identification and observation. 

For summer's hottest days we also have an in-ground swimming pool to cool off in!