My kids beg me to find excuses to drive into 'the Big City' just so we can visit this magical place.
What is it, you ask? In a nutshell, it's an educational complex nestled in the heart of the sprawling metro park in downtown.
It has a mini nature museum (which is all hands-on for kids...the 'awesome' points just skyrocketed for that detail), a small zoo, nature paths to explore, a dinosaur dig for kids to excavate giant fossils, and educational activities. Did I mention it's all free?
If you time the trip just right (which we make a point of doing), you can catch the professional Naturalists who staff the center.
They host a super-nifty area called the Trade-In desk.
Kids bring treasures they've found in nature (sea shells, fossils, rocks, bones, bugs, etc) and learn more about it with the Naturalists.
Here Sarah shares some of her recent findings from our pasture- some animal bones. She was able to learn what animal each bone came from and what type of bone it was.
Can I just say, we LOVE the Naturalists here.
They never just straight-out tell a child what the object is. They help the kids discover for themselves all the information they can.
Instead of saying, "That's a raccoon/possum/deer/cat skull", they show the child a dozen different skulls and ask them to find out which one their sample matches the best. When they have a match, they learn what animal it belongs to. Then they discuss in detail what every little orifice is for, or why the teeth are shaped the way they are to accommodate dietary habits, or why the eyes sit on the head a certain way, or a million other details about zoology you ever wondered.
Our kids love the exploration process here! Here Sarah and Matthew review their notes to figure out what animal they discovered.
The naturalists make exploring nature a grand adventure with their contagious enthusiasm, and even grown-ups enjoy listening to the details.
Kids can trade in their treasures for points which they use to 'shop' the Naturalists' store.
The store is a wall of shelves stocked with all the treasures other kids have brought in (see the background in the pic above? That's part of the store.)
Here Matthew and Daniel deliberate over potential prizes to cash in their points for. This is the hardest part of the visit as they agonize over their choices. Which is better: polished rocks or fossils? A huge cow skull or butterfly collection? Should they just save points for a bigger prize the next time we visit?
Usually my kids have collected animal skulls, turtle shells, and various antlers or horns.
For years Sarah also had her heart set on getting the most expensive prize- a preserved butterfly collection.
For years she had been saving up points for this goal.
Today was the day she finally earned it.
We have one VERY happy girl.
