Afterschool group gets outside to continue learning

Apr 17, 2026

Marianne Piche talks to members of the Marion Natural History Museum's afterschool group during a walk in Holmes Woods on Wednesday, April 8. Photo source: Elizabeth Leidhold

The group observes a new forest.

Piche talks to kids while on a walk.

Kids play a relay game while learning about pollinators during a group meeting Wednesday, April 8.

Maggie Payne teaches kids about the different parts of a flower.

Kids participate in Payne's pollinator talk.

Marianne Piche talks to members of the Marion Natural History Museum's afterschool group during a walk in Holmes Woods on Wednesday, April 8. Photo source: Elizabeth Leidhold

The group observes a new forest.

Piche talks to kids while on a walk.

Kids play a relay game while learning about pollinators during a group meeting Wednesday, April 8.

Maggie Payne teaches kids about the different parts of a flower.

Kids participate in Payne's pollinator talk.

MARION — Learning doesn't stop when the last school bell rings for members of the Marion Natural History Museum's afterschool group.

Kids learned about polinators and young forests during the group's two most recent meetings, joined by volunteer educators.

Museum volunteer, and butterfly and pollinator entheusiast Maggie Payne taught students about flower anatomy and the importance of polinators during the group's Wednesday, April 15 meeting.

Kids played a relay game collecting pollen as either bees, wasps or butterflies, and make flower seed "bombs" to grow plants at home.

Marianne Piche, a biologist for Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, joined the group Wednesday, April 8 to teach about young forests. A variety of wildlife rely on the tender shoots and herbaceous vegetation found in such areas that are not found in more mature forests.

The group also visited Holmes Woods to explore Marion's young forest.