Description: What makes an insect an insect? Explore the fascinating social lives of ants. Learn about their life cycle, role play as an ant in a colony, go on a hike and ruffle through leaf litter to find ants and other tiny decomposers that help clean up our planet! 

SOL Frameworks: K.6, K.7 

Description: Learn about plant and animal life cycles through interactive activities. How do living things change over time? Take a hike to see plants and animals in different stages of life. Meet one of our resident animals and learn what resources they need in order to grow and survive! 

SOL Frameworks: K.7, K.10 

Description: Learn about the customs and values of the indigenous people of the Potomac region and the contributions they continue to make today! Learn to appreciate, connect with, and care for the plants, animals, and earth in the same way the Native Americans do. Take a short hike along the river, touch and explore artifact replicas, grind corn, tell a traditional folklore story, and paint with natural earth pigments. 

Social Study SOL Frameworks: K.2, K.4, K.7 

Description: Learn about natural resources and how we can reuse and recycle them so they don’t go to waste! Participate in a recycling relay race, take a hike to appreciate the natural wonders of Riverbend, and go magnet fishing to understand what happens when you don’t use resources wisely. 

SOL Framework: K.11

Description: Use your 5 senses to experience the changing seasons in this forest discovery walk. Stop at 4 different stations along the way where you will touch textures, listen to the music of the forest, smell natural scents, and see shapes, colors, and patterns all around you!  

SOL Frameworks: K.3, K.5, K.6, K.9

Description: How can one tiny little seed turn into one giant tree? How do seeds travel from place to place? How are seeds and plants connected to us? Uncover the mysteries and wonder of these beings through hands-on activities. Explore size, shape, and texture of different seeds, learn the life-cycle of a plant and go on a hike to see plants at all stages of growth, and play a game to learn how plants are important to all life on earth. 

SOL Frameworks: K.3, K.6, K.7 

Description: Where do the animals go when the world turns cold and the snow covers the ground? Take a hike to find hibernating, migrating, and active winter animals. Meet a resident animal and learn about their adaptations and unique winter survival strategy. 

SOL Frameworks: K.7, K.9

Description: Explore the wonderful world of water right here on the Potomac River. Watch some fun water experiments, take a hike to explore our wetlands, and learn how to conserve and protect clean water. 

SOL Frameworks: K.4, K.6, K.7, K.11

Description: Participate in games and interactive activities to understand the connection between our plants and pollinators. What would happen if we lost these important relationships? How would this affect the earth and the food we eat? Experience the world through the eyes of a bee as you go on a scavenger hunt to find your favorite flowers and host plants, spread pollen from flower to flower with a lively craft, and see how fast you can pollinate the foods in the garden with a fun simulation activity! 

SOL Frameworks: 2.4, 2.5, 2.8, 3.5, 4.3, 4.8

Description: Hike the forest and flip over logs in search of decomposers, such as slugs, mushrooms, worms, and termites. Shake up some leaves to reveal the hidden world of invertebrates right under your feet! Learn about the ‘FBI’ or Fungus, Bacteria, and Invertebrates that call the soil home and the vital role they play in recycling nutrients and maintaining a healthy ecosystem.  

SOL Frameworks: 1.4, 1.5, 2.5, 2.8, 3.5, 3.6, 3.8, 4.3, 4.8

Description: Rocks rock! Identify and sort rocks and minerals using a dichotomous key and make connections by exploring how we use rocks and minerals in our daily lives. Hike along the Potomac in search of the ancient ocean floor and compare different soil types. Explore the layers of the earth, continental drift, plate tectonics, and relative age dating with puzzles and maps!

SOL Frameworks: 4.7, 4.8, 5.8, 5.9

Description: What does every plant and animal need to survive? How does each animal adapt to fill its niche and thrive in its habitat. Compare skulls and furs of animals and learn what they eat and where they live. Hike along a trail and explore life in four different habitats. Participate in a scavenger hunt to understand the concept of camouflage and why animals rely on adaptations to survive and thrive!

SOL Frameworks: 1.5, 1.8, 2.5, 2.8, 3.4, 3.5, 3.8, 4.3, 4.8

Description: Become part of a giant food web and test your knowledge on the life cycles of plants and animals. Take a hike to explore how weather, water, and soil are part of an ever-changing landscape. This program will help students understand that the earth is constantly moving and evolving, and that change is a necessary and inevitable part of life.  

SOL Frameworks: 1.6, 1.7, 2.4, 2.5, 2.7, 3.4, 3.6, 3.7, 4.2, 4.3

Description: Learn about the customs and values of the indigenous people of the Potomac region and the contributions they continue to make today! Learn to appreciate, connect with, and care for the plants, animals, and earth in the same way the Native Americans do. Take a short hike along the river in search of food, herbal medicine, and tools. Touch and explore artifact replicas, grind corn, shoot a bow & arrow, tell a traditional folklore story, and paint with natural earth pigments. 

Social Study SOL Framework: 2.1, 2.3, 2.7, VS.1, VS.2, VA2

Description: Explore the wonderful world of water right here on the Potomac River! Become a water droplet in the water cycle, take a hike to explore our wetlands and the animals that live there, and learn how to conserve and protect clean water from common sources of pollution. 

SOL Frameworks: 2.3, 2.5, 2.8, 3.5, 3.7, 3.8, 4.8

Description: Use your 5 senses to experience the changing seasons in this forest discovery walk. Stop at 4 different stations along the way where you will touch textures, listen to the music of the forest, smell natural scents, and see shapes, colors, and patterns all around you! Compare and contrast how you experience the world through senses to how other animals use their senses to adapt and survive in the wild.  

SOL Frameworks: 1.5, 1.7, 2.5, 2.7

Description: Soil is often referred to as the black box because we can’t yet ‘see inside’ this mysterious underground world of microbes. Compare soil textures and composition with hands-on experiments, explore decomposition and the soil food chain through games and activities, and hike along the Potomac to see the connection between soil and the watershed and understand its importance to the ecosystem. 

SOL Frameworks: 3.5, 3.6, 3.8, 4.2, 4.3

Description: Participate in a recycling relay race, take a hike to appreciate the natural wonders of Riverbend, and go magnet fishing to simulate resource depletion. This program can be modified for all ages and helps students understand the difference between renewable and non-renewable resources, how natural resources can be overused, and what we can do to preserve and conserve these precious treasures of our earth.

SOL Frameworks: 1.8, 2.8, 3.8, 4.8, 5.9

Description: Explore the wetlands of your local watershed to understand why clean water is a vital natural resource for all life. Students will rotate through four different stations where they will test water quality parameters, study biodiversity of watershed organisms, sample for benthic macro-invertebrates, and understand how land use and human activity impact water bodies. Note: This program works best with groups under 60 people such as private schools and home school groups. 

SOL Frameworks: 6.6, 6.8, 6.9