The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History recently launched a new online resource called SBnature From Home, a carefully curated collection of ways to connect to science and nature while the Museum is closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Museum strives to teach visitors that it and the Sea Center are not the final destination, but rather base camps for exploration. Everything the Museum does is meant to inspire the public’s curiosity and desire to connect with nature. In this spirit, SBnature From Home is a collection of ways online visitors can do this in any circumstances, with advice about how to enjoy nature while following state and federal guidance to slow the spread of COVID-19. The site includes content for all ages, organized by activities that can be done outdoors, indoors, or online. Activities include kid-friendly guides for neighborhood birding and backyard observations, tide pooling resources for those who live near beaches, stargazing guides, downloadable coloring sheets from Museum antique art collections, a feature inviting locals to ask the Museum’s scientists about backyard discoveries, links to citizen science projects and more.

Within the first 48 hours of launching, the page received over 2,100 unique visits with the average length of stay time on the page double that of other Museum webpages. Public response to the resources has been overwhelmingly positive as families and adults find themselves at home with a desire to learn and stay connected to the great outdoors.

Museum President & CEO Luke J. Swetland shared, “This is a wonderful success and we are so delighted to be able to continue to engage and educate our community in this new stay-at-home world in which we find ourselves. We will continue to add content to SBnature From Home and we fully anticipate that this part of our website will continue to be an exciting and much-used resource even after the Museum and Sea Center are back open for on-site business.”

New content will be added to SBnature From Home periodically, with notices about updates shared via the Museum and Sea Center’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and eblasts.

For more information, visit sbnature.org/from-home.

About the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

Powered by Science. Inspired by Nature. Founded in 1916, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History inspires a thirst for discovery and a passion for the natural world. The Museum seeks to connect people to nature for the betterment of both, and prides itself on being naturally different. For more information, visit sbnature.org.