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• Discovery Walk Educational Trip
• Guided Nature Center Visit Field Trip
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Discovery Walk Educational Trip

Shaver's Creek Discovery Walks explore the fascinating world of the outdoors. Working with small groups, an environmental teacher-naturalist will help your students discover the wonders of the natural world. Choose from one of our topics or request your own theme.

Please note: We have alternate plans for inclement weather days for each of our Discovery Walk themes that can be done under cover, so your trip can go on as scheduled.

Discovery Walk Themes

Three-hour programs:

Senses (Preschool–Grade 2)
Children love to explore. Your students will be encouraged to use their senses—sight, sound, smell, and touch—as they investigate the outdoors. Activities emphasize respect for and awareness of nature and the diversity of life that surrounds us.

Insects and Spiders (Grades 3–8)
Those animals that we sometimes sweep out the door are an important part of the natural world. Students learn the difference between insects and spiders as they take an up close look at these amazing critters. Through observation of these organisms in action and participation in hands-on activities, students discover for themselves the roles insects and spiders play in the ecosystem (pollinator, decomposer, and vital member of the food chain).

Forest Ecology (Grades 3–8)
Investigation of wooded trails helps students understand the intricate interrelationships of life in a forest. Participants explore and compare different habitats and search for evidence of interactions between those habitats and wildlife. Students also discuss the importance of balance in nature, natural cycles, and the possible impacts of humans on that system.

Aquatics/Watershed Ecology (Grades 3–8; maximum fifty students)
Become stream "doctors" and acquire skills to diagnose the health of Shaver's Creek or any freshwater stream. Using various techniques, groups collect and release a variety of macroinvertebrate organisms that make up the aquatic food web. Students use the diversity of life in the stream and their power of observation to determine the well-being of the water body. Using maps and participatory activities, students can develop a better understanding of watersheds.

Plants: The Root of Life (Grades 1–6; maximum fifty students)
A chief inspector (a Shaver's Creek educator) will lead a group of detectives (your students) through the woods and provide a description of a "guilty plant." Along the way, the group will discover clues that will lead them to the culprit. Each detective will have a notebook in which to record clues and draw pictures of potential suspects. The clues will ultimately lead to the guilty plant—the same plant fitting the description that the chief inspector revealed to the detectives at the beginning of the mystery tour. This program will help introduce children to the plant and fungi kingdoms. They will explore bracket fungi, lichens, mosses, ferns, vines, coniferous trees, and—finally—a deciduous tree. At each stop along the trail, the children will play a game or hear a story that will help them to remember the type of plant they have just discovered.

Herps, Habitats, and Hawks (Grades 2–8; maximum fifty students)
Students unravel the mysteries of animal adaptations and habitats. Participants begin this program by observing and learning about our live captive animals and their native habitats. After lunch they will use this information to locate the appropriate habitat for a frog, a snake, a turtle, and a bird of prey. Gathering data and seeking clues along the trails at Shaver’s Creek, students discover where animals live and why.

Customized Program (Grades K–8; maximum fifty students)
Combine four stations from our Guided Nature Center Visit and one of the Discovery Walk selections to customize your own program:

Guided Nature Center Visit (choose four): Click HERE for descriptions

• Amphibian (live animal)
• Turtle (live animal)
• Snake (live animal)
• Bird of prey (live animal)
• Bat (possible live animal)
• Beaver (hands-on props)
• Raptor Center tour
• Discovery Room

Combine with:

Discovery Walk (choose one): See above for descriptions

• Senses (grades pre-K–2)
• Insects and spiders (grades 3–8)
• Forest ecology (grades 3–8)
• Aquatic/Watershed ecology (grades 3–8)

WEATHER FORECAST: