History of the Hudson

The Hudson River has been a very important part of history in the Hudson Valley and NYS!

Human impacts to the HR over time

I slightly modified an activity I used to run at the Hudson River Park Trust. It is an interactive story that teaches the differences and similarities in the Hudson River between the 1950's and present day. This game should be modified based on age group.. at HRPT we did different versions based on knowledge level, ability to read, etc. Essentially you tell the story of the Hudson being polluted and trashed due to factories, over fishing, and the general public. People like politicians and scientists tried to help but it wasn't enough. Today regulations are in place for releasing waste and chemicals, fishing limits, and people are more conscious of properly throwing away their trash. I assisgn kids a role, like the fisherman or scientist. During the story they are responsible for placing or removing "trash" "pollution" or "fish" from the river. At HRPT we used felt for the river, plastic bottles, and green felt for pollution. I used a vinyl blue material this time and construction paper cut outs for pollution. For fish I use the fish specifically found in the Hudson and laminated them with the name on the back. This also gave kids the chance to learn the fish names... this entertained some for days!

Hudson Geography
I threw an activity together, inspired by a similar activity from DEC. Kids started with a blank map of NYS. Together (with the help of some bigger maps) we determined where the Hudson River is, where it starts, where it ends, what other important features border the river or the river passes through. We identified where we live and where certain fish live (salt vs fresh water).

Discover the Hudson River Activity Books

I love these activity books from Project WET so much! Great for self-guided learning or to do as a group. My kids particularly liked the page where you record which fish and plants are found in just salt water, just fresh, or brackish.