Earth Day Celebration

Mission San Juan Capistrano is proud to bring you our annual Earth Day Celebration digitally. Join us live online for a month-long Earth Day celebration as we share videos, links and livestreams. Our family friendly virtual celebration is the perfect place for students and adults alike to learn about the planet we call home!

Discover the beauty of the Mission’s gardens. Explore the lives of butterflies and other pollinators. Learn about the local Native American group’s connections with nature that continue today.

2022 Event Highlights include:

• Video: Pollinators For Kids Episode of the Ranger Zak Show, featuring Ranger Zak, local Park Ranger and education kids show host

• Video: Native American Thank You Song, featuring teacher and storyteller Jacque Tahuka Nunez, Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation (preview clip from larger Distance Learning program)

• Livestream: Swallows Lecture with swallows expert Dr. Charles Brown, University of Tulsa

• Livestream: Online Art Lesson demonstrating watercolor painting California poppies, featuring Mission San Juan Capistrano Artist in Residence Melanie Rayburn

• STEM Learning, presented by The Discovery Cube Foundation, and more!

Run Time: 4 minutes and 33 seconds

The Mission’s Gardening Angel volunteers are dedicated to making the Mission’s gardens beautiful. In this video, a few of these them share their favorite parts of the gardens. We’re so grateful to our gardening volunteers for helping to make the Mission beautiful!

Run Time: 4 minutes and 54 seconds

Enjoy this special preview clip from our Distance Learning Native American History and Storytelling Package. Presented by teacher and storyteller Jacque Tahuka Nunez, Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation, this special video celebrates diversity while teaching about the local indigenous people’s traditions.

Run Time: 16 minutes and 24 seconds

Local Park Ranger, Ranger Zak, visits Mission San Juan Capistrano’s gardens and explores the many different kinds of pollinators that live there. Learn the science behind what pollinators do and who they are. We’re so lucky to have these helpful critters onsite at the Mission!

Run Time: 1 hour and 9 minutes

Gather your watercolor painting supplies together for this special Paint the Mission class lead by Mission Education Staff Artist in Residence, Melanie Rayburn! This class is designed to be enjoyed with the family and is accessible to people of all ages and levels of experience. To paint along with this livestream, we recommend the following supplies: watercolor paints, paint brush, watercolor paper, pencil, and water for dipping your paint brush.

Run Time: 40 minutes and 36 seconds

We are excited to welcome the return of Dr. Charles Brown, an acclaimed swallows expert and professor of biological sciences at the University of Tulsa for this virtual lecture on the swallows of Capistrano. This encore lecture will focus on different information that Dr. Brown’s Swallows Day lecture.

San Joaquin Marsh Tour

In partnership with the Irvine Ranch Water District, Discovery Cube takes you on a journey to learn about an amazing ecosystem that helps to protect our oceans from urban runoff.

Sort That Trash

Discovery Cube created a fun game to help you learn how you can reduce the amount of trash going to landfills just by sorting your waste before you throw it out.

Monarch’s Journey

This Discovery Cube video follows the Monarch butterfly migration as you learn about the king of all butterflies.

Butterfly Chromatography

Now that you know all about the Monarch Butterfly, Discovery Cube created a fun activity where you can create your own beautiful butterfly model.

Water Footprint Game

Discovery Cube help you discover the hidden ways you use water every day and you can learn to make choices to reduce your water use.

Run Time: 31 minutes and 2 seconds

Join Mission Gardening Angel Volunteers Jan Sorensen and Toni Nelson on a virtual tour of the Mission’s West Gardens, featuring our vegetable and herb demonstration gardens, native plant garden, and special monarch butterfly habitat, designed to protect wild monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars while they grow.

Run Time: 35 minutes and 4 seconds

We are excited to welcome the return of Dr. Charles Brown, an acclaimed swallows expert and professor of biological sciences at the University of Tulsa for this virtual lecture on the swallows of Capistrano. This encore lecture will focus on different information that Dr. Brown’s Swallows Day lecture, including the swallows adaptations to urban living.

Run Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Gather your watercolor painting supplies together for this special Paint the Mission class lead by Mission Education Staff Artist in Residence, Melanie Rayburn! This class is designed to be enjoyed with the family and is accessible to people of all ages and levels of experience. To paint along with this livestream, we recommend the following supplies: watercolor paints, paint brush, watercolor paper, pencil, any black marker, and water for dipping your paint brush.

Run Time: 5 minutes and 37 seconds

Mission San Juan Capistrano Native American Basket Weaving Volunteers share the rich basket weaving tradition and cultural practices of the Acjachmen people. Presented by Ellen Olivares Schneider, Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation; Adelia Sandoval, Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation; and Mariah Doyle Sandoval.

The Water Cycle

Discovery Cube presents a video about Mother Earth and how she helps provide water for us through a process called the Water Cycle. 

From the Mountains to Your Tap

This Discovery Cube video takes you on a journey of how water is transported to our dry and arid environment in Southern California for all to use. Let’s remember to use it efficiently so it will lasts for generations.

Big Bumpy Land

California’s landscape is beautiful and diverse. Discovery Cube takes you on a musical excursion through California learning how its landscape assists in bringing water to us in the southern part of the state.

Ways To Save

Learn to be water wise with Discovery Cube’s sing-along science music video.

Sustainability Energy Song

We need power to fuel our lives. Discovery Cube will have you singing along as you learn about sustainable energy that is healthy for our planet.

Butterfly Song

Sing along with Discovery Cube and learn about the life cycle of a butterfly.

Run Time: 8 minutes and 51 seconds

Local author and Monarch Conservation Specialist, Susie Vanderlip, shares information about creating a monarch butterfly friendly garden.