Dune's Island - A Free Video Learning Series

[Eric Matyas]

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/

[Eric Matyas]

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]

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!

[Eric Matyas]

In addition to the episodes, we created some fun support documentaries. I'm working on some new ones and will be adding them to the site soon.

https://www.dunesisland.org/documentaries

[Eric Matyas]

If you've 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/

[Eric Matyas]

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]

Here’s a short clip from one of our episodes: “Pelican Problems.”

https://vimeo.com/450488297

All of the episodes are free to watch and even download to your computers 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!

[Harrysalvatore1989]

Thanks even to me as an adult it was interesting to watch. It's a pity that there are quite a few episodes)) I'll definitely show this to my child

[Julia234]

I agree, the site is interesting. Great job! My children are too small now, but I'll wait till they grow up and we will visit your site together. Thanks for sharing!

[Eric Matyas]

Thanks even to me as an adult it was interesting to watch. It's a pity that there are quite a few episodes)) I'll definitely show this to my child

Thanks! We wanted it to be something parents could watch with their kids so that's great to hear. We plan to film more episodes after the health crisis is over.

[Eric Matyas]

I agree, the site is interesting. Great job! My children are too small now, but I'll wait till they grow up and we will visit your site together. Thanks for sharing!

You're very welcome! The ideal age is around 10-years-old, but I've heard that some teachers are using the films with kids who are even younger which is interesting. Anyhow, I really appreciate your kind words...please feel free to share "Dune's Island" with anyone who might find it helpful!

[Eric Matyas]

Hi everyone,
I’m working on worksheets and activities that parents and teachers can download for their students…the idea being that the island serves as a microcosm and provides a way for kids to build their math, science and reading skills. I think this will be a really cool way for kids to learn.

If you haven’t seen the videos yet, here’s a link the website:

https://www.dunesisland.org/

Check them out…they are free to watch and download.

Eventually I’d like to have tie-in video games…any ideas?

[Eric Matyas]

Hi,

thanks for your tip. I don't have kids but some of my friends do... so i'll suggest it to them. It's always helpfull when children learn something while watching something. So it's not just wasting their time.

You're very welcome! If they find it helpful, please encourage them to share it as well!