The Young Nature Rangers platform gamtosreindzeris.lt has been updated. There, children, their parents, or teachers can find free games and activities related to nature in Lithuanian.

“With thousands of children flocking to the platform during quarantine, we realised that we needed to strengthen the technical part of the platform. As the platform is quite complex technologically, the whole process has taken quite a while, but we can finally welcome the new version, which should make both solving and creating nature activities easier and more convenient.” – Says Rita Grinienė, co-author of the platform and representative of the Baltic Environmental Forum Lithuania.

Updates are mainly technical, but there are also new tasks and a naturalist calendar

Most of the updates were technical – to make the platform faster, able to support more people, and make it more convenient for browsing on phones or searching for a task of interest. Unlike the first version, the new version of the platform also allows you to solve tasks offline. Of course, as before, logging in is required if you want to earn special badges, track your tasks, get certificates, etc. The updated platform has been accompanied by exciting new tasks.

“If you are looking for ideas for fun things to do with your children in nature, for enriching nature lessons, for engaging or stimulating your nature-interested toddler, this is the platform for you. We are creating a place where everything about nature is there for children.” – R. Grinienė continues.

In order to make the display on the phone user-friendly, two types of tasks have been removed from the platform: jigsaw puzzles and connection-type tasks.

“There was no way to represent them conveniently, so we decided that perfectly working tasks were better than a multitude of formats. We’ve done away with these two types of tasks and many of the tasks will simply be redesigned in another format – crossword, test, or active zones.” says R. Grienienė.

There are new tasks and a brand new naturalist calendar to encourage users to explore nature every month. We invite you to check out the January calendar. Calendars for other months.

CERTIFICATES FOR TASK DESIGNERS

Professionals who create tasks for free on the platform will also find new features. They will see statistics on solved tasks and will be able to generate a certificate indicating the number of tasks they have created on the platform.

“We want the Young Nature Rangers Platform to be the place where everything about nature education for children can be found. We also want to make the activities and games more professional, varied, and interesting. That’s why we’ve developed more tools to motivate the creation of new activities and to help analyse what content children like.” says R. Grinienė.

EXISTING USERS HAVE TO CREATE A NEW PASSWORD

Registered users who wish to log in to the new gamtosreindzeris.lt system have to create a new password.

The developers ask users to inform them if they notice any bugs or inaccuracies when the new platform is launched. They should be reported to the general email address bendrauk@gamtosreindzeris.lt.

The Young Nature Rangers platform is a space where you can not only learn about nature and understand its processes, but also interact with each other, solve tasks together, compete by collecting virtual badges for correctly completed tasks, and explore nature. Although the platform is aimed at children aged 6-14, kindergarteners can solve tasks with the help of their parents or teachers, and children over 14 can find compelling tasks as well. The platform currently has almost 120 different tasks and games and almost 10,000 registered users.

The platform also offers entertaining publications, environmental videos, and ideas for fun things to do in nature with your children.

Although the platform is part of the Aquatic Warbler Conservation Project “LIFE Magni Ducatus Acrola”, the topics of the exercises are certainly not limited to the aquatic warbler, its neighbours, and its home – the swamps. It covers all topics, all species, and all areas.