Have your students identify some of the key parts of a living shoreline, and test their vocabulary with these worksheets:

• Label a Living Shoreline
• Living Shorelines Vocabulary

The following hands-on activities provide opportunities for students to explore the effect of wave forces on shorelines and to create their own living shoreline models:

• Eroding Beaches Activity
• NSTA Engineering the Coast: An integrated set of three design challenges to explore living shorelines

Restore America’s Estuaries: An Introduction to Living Shorelines (07:44)
This video profiles living shoreline projects in Bethany Beach, DE and Puget Sound, WA.

Northeast Climate Hub: What is sea level rise? (03:21)
Folks from Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory at Rutgers University describe the cause of sea level rise and its impacts on coastal communities.

Benefits of Living Shorelines (02:25)
Dave Bushek and Jenny Paterno, of the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory at Rutgers University, explain the many advantages of living shorelines.

PDE Living Shorelines video (03:49)
Watch and listen as scientists explain the different components of living shorelines and the role that plants and animals play in this restoration work.

PDE Monitoring the Mispillion (03:05)
This video highlights the need for ongoing maintenance and monitoring work at living shoreline sites. It also outlines the benefits and changes seen in one project area.

Virtual Eco-Explorers Field Trips
The Aquatic Resources Education Center now offers its Eco-Explorers program in a virtual format for use in any learning environment. They include short videos with accompanying worksheets and activities focused on tidal salt marshes.

USDA Northeast Climate Hub Living Shoreline Virtual Tour
Through 360* video and photography, see how Rutgers University, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, and other partners build a living shoreline to reduce storm impacts.

The Delaware Estuary Living Shoreline Initiative Story Map
This interactive story map provides background information on living shorelines and lets you explore the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary’s living shoreline projects throughout the Delaware Estuary.

DuPont Nature Center (Milford, DE)
Want to see what a living shoreline looks like in person? PDE installed one here in 2014! The DuPont Nature center is a science-based educational and interpretive facility located in the Mispillion Harbor. The area around the center is home to over 130 species of birds, fish, and other animals. Inside, aquariums house horseshoe crabs, fish, and shellfish.

Aquatic Resources Education Center (Smyrna, DE)
The Aquatic Resources Education Center is located along the scenic Delaware Bayshore Byway in Smyrna, DE. It is an ideal place to explore the Delaware Bay coastal ecosystem and wildlife.

Eco-Explorer Field Trips (Smyrna, DE)
This free field trip program offered at the Aquatic Resources Education Center allows students to explore connections between plants and animals in a tidal salt marsh ecosystem. The hands-on activities align with Next Generation Science Standards.
*A virtual option is currently offered due to Covid-19, see above.

Oyster Shell Recycling with PDE (Wilmington, DE/Philadelphia, PA)
Did you know that oyster shells can be recycled? Recycled shells are returned to the water to serve as future oyster habitat and to help protect shorelines. If your group is interested in getting your hands dirty helping to bag shell and learning how we use recycled shells in living shorelines, contact Ellie Rothermel at erothermel@delawareestuary.org.  (Opportunities are available in Wilmington, DE and Philadelphia, PA.)