The Junior Duck Stamp Curriculum

The Junior Duck curriculum retains the original focus on an arts-based educational program. Many of the curriculum's exercises in observation encourage students to interpret the natural world through artistic expression. This focus is based on the theory that students will be more inclined to conserve and protect what they love. An emphasis on "nature journals" provides students with opportunities to sharpen observation skills and to record these observations on a continual basis. The Waterfowl Journal Project in conjunction with the Junior Duck Stamp Contest provides students with an intense experience in the observation and study of one waterfowl species.

Many other activities contained in the Junior Duck curriculum provide students with opportunities to learn about migratory birds; the mysteries of migration; requirements for adequate habitat and; the ways they can help conserve these species in their own back yards, school years, and neighborhoods. By providing a basis for participation in the Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest, the curriculum encourages students to move beyond simply "learning about" wildlife and wildlife art to testing their abilities as wildlife artists. Arts-education objectives and methods for evaluation, are provided for each activity to help teachers identify which activities will satisfy art education requirements. Students demonstrate their learning through the range of visual, dance, musical, dramatic and language arts.

How to Order the Curriculum

Thank you for your interest in the Junior Duck Stamp Program Curriculum. The curriculum is currently under revision and will be available again in 2007.

The 2006 Junior Duck Stamp Contest brochure features educational activities printed in Flying WILD. To request a copy of this brochure, please contact your state's Junior Duck Stamp Coordinators. For a list of state coordinators click here.

You may download the older version of the curriculum by clicking here. Unfortunately, it is no longer available in its print form.

Although we have run out of copies of the 2003 National Wildlife Refuge Centennial curriculum supplement, you can download an Adobe Acrobat version of the Centennial Supplement here.

For additional educational materials, please visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's "Educating for Conservation" webpage.

Click on Your State to Find Out How You Can Participate !

American Samoa,Virgin Islands, Washington, D.C.