Wonderland Spectacle Co. produces parades and festivals and all sorts of spectacles. Lead artists Kari Percival and Greg Cook make fun art and nature videos for kids, hand-paint fabric banners, fashion masks out of poster board, craft puppets out of twigs and cardboard, paint murals, and inspire volunteers to join them in community spectacles big and tiny. And they teach others how to do these things too in their how-to workshops.
When a family of wild turkeys visited our backyard in Greater Boston, we wondered how the birds came to live in the city. To find the answer, come along with us as we visit Jim Cardoza of MassWildlife, who led the effort to restore wild turkeys to Massachusetts after they had been gone for more than 100 years.
Join us as we find gray foxes in our neighborhood. Then learn how to make a fox mask.
Monarch butterflies are disappearing. In our new Wonderland Spectacle Co. video, we raise monarchs from eggs to caterpillars to butterflies, as we learn ways to help them. Then find out how to make a paper butterfly to brighten your home.
Over the past 25 years, the number of monarchs in the eastern United States has declined by 84 percent. The U.S. government estimates that the population of these butterflies is down from 384 million in 1996 to 60 million in 2019. For every five monarchs there used to be, four are gone. More than that.
Learn about sea smoke as we visit Plum Cove in Gloucester, Massachusetts, as the temperatures dip to 7 degrees fahrenheit.
Come along as we investigate weird sounds from a beaver pond at the Kleimola Reservation in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The 18-acre site, which is managed by Essex County Greenbelt, is also home to abandoned quarries from the early 1900s.
Join us as we visit Trap Falls in summer and winter. It’s part of Willard Brook State Forest in In Ashby and Townsend, Massachusetts.
A Preview: Come with us to look for spotted salamanders just outside Boston, in the Middlesex Fells. Guess how they get their name? On the first rainy night each spring, these amphibians crawl out of their underground burrows to find vernal pools to make new baby salamanders.
Enjoy a rainy day with Wonderland Spectacle Co. in our new video “Rain.” Play in puddles. Learn how to make a rain band. Craft paper boats. Look for rainbows.
Learn about maple sugaring (how you turn the sap of sugar maple trees into maple syrup) as we visit Mass Audubon’s Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield, Massachusetts.
As winter temperatures fall below freezing for weeks at a time, join us as we go ice fishing with our friends at MassWildlife, listen to the amazing sounds frozen ponds make, and learn how to make a lantern of ice to light up the winter night.
For Groundhog Day, we visit Ms. G, the official groundhog of Massachusetts, as she looks for her shadow at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln. Did you know that groundhogs are also called woodchucks? Learn about what they eat (when they raid our garden), how they hibernate, and the origins and meaning of Groundhog Day. Then see how to make your own shadow puppet theater.
Join us on a winter Wonderland adventure: Make paper snowflakes. Build a snow person. Spot blue jays. Go sledding.
Come along with us as we explore the ruins of Bancroft Castle in Groton, Massachusetts. Then learn how to build you own model castle.
Learn how to grow a pumpkin.
Learn how to get rid of a terrible (coronavirus) monster in this helpful video.
The Wonderland-Spectacle-Co.-Mobile heads to the Great Blue Hills, just south of Boston in this video. Climb the hills with us. See a chipmunk, a leaf-footed beetle, a flower longhorn beetle, and a bee. Check out the view from the observation tower at the top. Then draw Great Blue Hill with us.
Help us Welcome Back Songbirds to our neighborhoods in this video. Look for nuthatches, cardinals, chickadees, red-winged blackbirds and grackles. Then make your own bird artwork to decorate your window.
Learn the story of Wonderland Spectacle Co. in this video. What is a spectacle and how do you make one? Find out the answer as we talk about our inspirations and art, including the Sad Parade, the Mermaid Promenade, the How to Fix the World Festival, the Starting Over Festival, and Arlington’s Fox Festival.
