Dune's Island - A Free Video Learning Series

[Eric Matyas 441]

Hi everyone,

 

If you happen to have kids (or know someone who does) here's a brand new free resource that I hope is helpful. It's a website for my video learning series, “Dune’s Island,” which aims to teach kids environmental stewardship in a really fun way through stories and characters. Within the site you can freely access all the episodes, support documentaries and even tie-in curriculum (like vocabulary, math problems, writing prompts and more.)

 

In the coming weeks, I’ll be expanding the site with all kinds of activities and more cool documentaries, so please be sure to bookmark it. In the meantime, any and all feedback is welcome and very much appreciated. Enjoy and stay safe.

 

https://www.dunesisland.org/

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Eric Matyas

[Eric Matyas 441]

If anyone happens to wonder what I get up to when I’m not creating music for everyone, I write and direct films that hopefully help kids (and grownups) learn important things.

 

Here's a link to the page on my new site where you can freely access all of the "Dune's Island" episodes. I’ve enabled the download function on Vimeo so you don’t even have to be online to share it with your kiddos.

 

https://www.dunesisland.org/episodes

 

Enjoy…and please feel free to share with anyone who might find it useful.

 

Stay safe and healthy.

[Eric Matyas 441]

I had always intended "Dune's Island" to be an immersive learning world. The idea was to produce films that teachers and home educators could actually pull lessons from to share with their students. After completing the episodes, a team of science teachers went through the films and created curriculum for grades K-5 that ties into the episodes.

Here's a link to it: https://www.dunesisland.org/curriculum

Please feel free to share it!

[PhoenixSoul 1,404]

Looks like this has taken off. Neat.

[Eric Matyas 441]

On 4/29/2020 at 6:09 AM, PhoenixSoul said:

Looks like this has taken off. Neat.

Well, we're sure trying hard to get it out to the world, but it's a massive challenge. Please feel free to help us share it!  :-)

Here’s our page where you can access all of the episodes. I think it looks pretty good for a community project!

https://www.dunesisland.org/episodes

 

[PhoenixSoul 1,404]

Hmmm...think I'll stamp it into my forum signature here...to start.

[Eric Matyas 441]

On 5/5/2020 at 11:59 PM, PhoenixSoul said:

Hmmm...think I'll stamp it into my forum signature here...to start.

 

Awesome...thank you!

 

For those of you who have been following my music sharing thread over the years, you know that I'm not one to toot my own whistle, but I've been getting some very positive feedback about "Dune's Island" from parents and teachers so I included a "Praise for Dune's Island" page on the site.

Given the current environmental situation, I believe that this is a very important project. Getting the word out about it is a massive challenge, though...especially since it has no advertising budget. If you think "Dune's Island" might be helpful to someone you know, please share it with them. Thanks in advance!
 

https://www.dunesisland.org/

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Eric Matyas

[Eric Matyas 441]

Here's Episode 1 of my free learning series. Mr. Binnacle sends Dune and friends to the inlet to try to spot Buster, an endangered sea turtle whose tracking device is faltering. For ages 7-12. Please share with family, friends and teachers! :-) https://www.dunesisland.org/

[Eric Matyas 441]

Here's a short clip from one of our episodes: "Pelican Problems." All of the episodes are free to watch and even download so you don't have to be online to use them. You'll find them here:

 

https://www.dunesisland.org/

 

I sincerely hope they are helpful to you and your families!

 

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Eric Matyas

[Eric Matyas 441]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm working on worksheets and activities that parents and teachers can download for their kids. It should be a cool way to work on math, science and reading skills. Eventually I'd like to have tie-in video games...any ideas? 

 

Here's a link to the website if you haven't seen it yet:

 

https://www.dunesisland.org/

 

Enjoy!

[PhoenixSoul 1,404]

The Dr. Brain games come to mind. Getting those to run on modern systems, good luck; Dr. Brain 3 runs like pffft on Windows 7 and can't be arsed to run in windowed mode.