Playcard Environmental Education Center

08/28/2026

This is Dolly Parton, a person who let her dreams define herself. She is an inspiration to so many. We salute you. Stay “Forever Wild!”

08/16/2026

This is important. Children need nature to thrive. Stay “Forever Wild!”

Instead of sitting at indoor desks under fluorescent lights, thousands of elementary students across Denmark spend regular school days in natural forests as part of their official curriculum. Known as udeskole, this hands-on educational approach replaces traditional textbooks with real-world application—teaching geometry by measuring tree trunks, calculating water flow in local streams, and studying biological ecosystems directly on the forest floor.

By shifting lessons into open nature, educators noticed dramatic improvements in physical endurance, spatial reasoning, and academic retention. Experiencing scientific principles through direct touch and observation allows young learners to grasp complex concepts faster while reducing mental fatigue and classroom stress.

08/13/2026

Thursday’s Staff Development program is scheduled as planned. Please note that we need to move the Friday Staff Development day to a later date. If anyone sees that date as available for staff development please do not register for Friday as this event needs to be moved to the spring. Thank you for understanding. Stay “Forever Wild!”

08/12/2026

We would like to thank our community partners HCS, CCU, HGTC, and so many other educational entities, volunteers, and business members for their support. For 40 years, you have all been vital to our success as a program. Playcard is a partnership between these unique groups that was started by the Horry County Conservation Foundation who collaboratively supports making community partnerships with valued stakeholders to provide conservation, leadership, education, research, stewardship, and community service opportunities throughout the region. We appreciate everyone’s service to the community. Pictured here are our two newest prospective volunteers who are excellent community minded individuals. Thank you both for your service. If anyone is interested in volunteering to help the community please reach out to Playcard Environmental Education Center. Stay “Forever Wild!”

08/09/2026

The Assistant Educator position for Playcard Environmental Education Center is slated to be posted soon as open online on the Horry County Schools website. This is a very unique opportunity as we have such a multitasking staff that we help each other with virtually everything. We are looking for enthusiastic and amazing people to apply. One day we might be leading a zipline or low ropes adventure, the next kayaking, the next a nature exploration and discovery or running camps, the next trail maintenance, the next custodial duties and light construction/repairs, after that, administrative, research, and marketing, sometimes we might have a combination of a sample of all of these duties in one day plus other opportunities. From the humble work of sweeping the floors and small animal caretaking, helping to setup tents to special events, running equipment, facilitating kayaking, marketing, co-teaching, and outreach to area schools, to leading groups and team building all the way to co-administration support as needed, whatever it takes, we get the job done! One of the most challenging and engaging growth and learning opportunities of your life awaits! This is a combination education/adventure/maintenance/co-leadership and support opportunity. If you are interested and think you are up to the task, our team needs you, please apply. Stay “Forever Wild!”

08/07/2026

As so many organizations are celebrating their first few days back, we would like to remember and remind people that is isn’t our work communities, schools, or businesses that are always the most important, it is our home communities, relationships, and families that always are. While both are very important and support each other, please take the time to invest in your own personal families first because those are the most important anchoring relationships in life. Creating a good work life balance is key to being a good person before being a good employee no matter your status. Don’t get lost or consumed in what you do or place more emphasis on your career over your family, place your life in the right order, God, family, work, then you. Always remember this healthy balance. Stay grounded in what matters most. Also, it doesn’t matter what others think of you, it only matters what the good lord does. Be yourself, stay true to yourself, and stay grounded, don’t change for others to please them. Keep life simple and believe in yourself for the good lord always does. Have a great beginning of the year and stay focused on what truly matters. We don’t live to work, we work to live. Work hard, help others, be a big family, put it in the good lord’s hands, and always be there for your family first. This is one of the most important lessons anyone could ever give. Stay “Forever Wild!”

08/07/2026

Looking forward to an excellent year at Playcard. Please register your class for a field trip today. Enjoy the last few days of summer. Stay “Forever Wild!”

08/05/2026

These are fossilized ancient seashells, specifically bivalves including clams, scallops, and oysters from thousands of years ago located along the sides of the Waccamaw River. They are typical formations found in coquina cliffs and bluffs regionally. Beautiful specimens. Stay “Forever Wild!”

08/02/2026

Camping…. It’s fun and teaches many skills like teamwork, resilience, patience, humor, confidence, and helpfulness. Great skill-building too.

Ah, camping. Humanity’s ancient tradition of leaving a perfectly good house to sleep in a nylon bag surrounded by wildlife.

Sometimes spending a day in the wilderness isn’t quite enough to capture the feeling of a special place. Sometimes it’s exactly what you need. But if you’re ready to extend your adventure beyond sunrise to sunset, there’s a park campsite waiting for you.

From sleeping beneath towering trees to waking up beside desert landscapes, camping offers a chance to slow down, unplug, and experience parks in a whole new way.

Learn more about camping in parks: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/camping

P.S. The spider is also reconsidering its vacation choices.

Image: Screenshot of text that reads: “Whoever said ‘out of sight, out of mind’ never had a spider disappear inside their tent.”

07/29/2026

Playcard Environmental Education Center’s history is unique. Playcard is the original vision of Mr James P Blanton who, starting through his efforts of organizing many other visionary leaders and supporters to assist, helped to organize, originate, and sustain the legacy and innovations allowing Playcard to thrive for so many years to serve the community. At its base, Playcard is a working community based exciting and engaging place to visit, explore, learn about, discover, and engage nature that showcases the amazing biodiversity and mysterious beauty of a bottomland hardwood forest/blackwater swamp ecosystem. STEM, outdoor skills, team building, leadership, and natural history subjects are taught through exploration and discovery tapping into the students own intrinsic motivation and curiosity as their guide. Playcard and the Horry County Conservation Foundation in collaboration with Horry County Schools working alongside so many other community partners, interns, volunteers, and educational entities including CCU, HGTC, Clemson University, USC, the College of Charleston, in conjunction with many volunteers, local organizations, schools, and businesses have been recognized for various honors since inception. HCS collaborating with CCU has taken particular interest with leadership offering research, collaboration, and mentorship roles and has offered much support so we thank them for their concentrated efforts especially. These awards and recognitions are for outstanding leadership, partnership, community service, and engagement. The stakeholders appreciate the service of the community to cooperate to help this unique educational entity thrive. Through offering an ever growing and expanding outdoor experiential/experimental environmentally focused conservation based learning approach utilizing the many resources, habitats, amenities, and biodiversity of the center many individuals and community groups have come together over the years to visit, explore, experience, and enjoy Playcard. Playcard offers day field experiences, camps, public outreach, special events, teacher staff development, research, multimedia presentations, explorations, television programs, and publicity to support conservation, leadership, natural history, and outdoor skills. The unique services, trails, and amenities of Playcard Environmental Education Center serve as an example to others of community engagement, collaboration, and a model for environmental education centers across the region. Over the years, the uniquely engaging conservation and community-based outdoor environmental education model has been imitated, but the legacy of community engagement in this unique format has remained a first of its kind since inception forty years ago. Combining collaboration, community engagement, and the innovation of individuals and stakeholders to create, sustain, and grow these partnerships in an openly evolving format is essential moving forward. Thank you to all who have collaborated and who are currently diligently cooperating to engage with the community to support this mission. You are very much appreciated.
Playcard Environmental Education Center, where nature teaches.
Stay “Forever Wild”