In this family-friendly program we’re on the lookout for butterflies, especially monarch butterflies. Learn about the unique life of these beautiful and beloved creaures, and the best place to find them from caterpillar to adult. In addition to a butterfly hunt in the prairie, this program includes activities to learn the butterfly life cycle and a monarch count to…

Spend a day with a naturalist learning about the misunderstood in nature. There are many plants, animals, and insects that are great for the environment, but are misunderstood by many people. While you may not leave loving the things we learn and see you will have a new appreciation about the misunderstood. Our day will…

Spend a day with a naturalist exploring the prairie. We will spend time outside observing all the things that live and grow in the prairie and what it takes to be a good explorer in nature. Our day will also include prairie related activities such as the flowers blooming and insects flying that are found…

Spend a day with a naturalist learning about the forest. The program features gentle hikes on our forest trails where we will discover what lives in the woods and how to be a good explorer. There will also be activities such as learning about the layers of the forest and the special benefits the forest…

  Our trails are not only beautiful, but they’re full of hidden ecology, too. Tune in to nature sounds and enjoy some fresh air on a medium length hike. Full of amazing discoveries, our hikes include seasonally relevant content including adaptations, ecological change, habitats, and the food web.

  Meet Plato, a very curious young mole and his best friends, earthworms Alfa, Beta, and Gamma.  With the help of Professor Socrates, a very distinguished beetle, children along with Plato and his friends will discover why we have night and day, why does the Moon look different every night, what are the stars and…

Join us as we explore the little worlds of our solar system.  Learn how our own Moon was born and the role it has played in making Earth a planet habitable for life.  Explore the diversity of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, Saturn’s moon Titan and moons orbiting asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects like Pluto.  Speculate…

The night sky is a place of wonders! Be inspired by constellations, craters on the Moon, the rings of Saturn, stellar nurseries, galaxies filled with stars, and more! Come to our monthly, first Friday Star Watch hosted by the Wilderness Center’s Astronomy Club. Star Watch is free and fun for the whole family.  Explore our…

  Take a tour of the summer night sky with Robin, our Astronomy Education Specialist.  Learn what constellations and bright stars are in the night sky this time of year and what planets we can see.  Experience some of the incredible deep sky objects this sky has to offer including galaxies, star clusters, and more.  And…

This program pairs some of our favorite night time activities: telescopes and fireflies! We’ll begin by learning some cool facts about fireflies, and then explore some different areas to determine what parts of TWC fireflies prefer. Then we’ll collect data on how many fireflies we see, in an effort to track the population over time.…