Virgin Islands National Park - For Kids (U.S. National Park Service)

COMING FOR A VISIT TO VIRGIN ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK?

The Park is a great place for kids!

Virgin Islands National Park Junior Ranger badge, with poster images of colorful local fish in the background

NPS

While visiting Virgin Islands National Park, don’t forget to stop in the Park's Visitor Center at Cruz Bay. Ask a Ranger at the desk how you can become a Junior Ranger. After completing the requirements, you’ll be awarded the Junior Ranger program certificate and badge; what a nice accomplishment!

a pod of 4 dolphin models, shown in swimming action, hanging from the Visitor Center rafters

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The exhibits at the Visitor Center are big and colorful. Maybe your favorite will be about coral. Everyone likes to look at the 3-D map on a large table. Watch out! Dolphins are watching you from the ceiling!

items from the Visitor Center, such as toy animals, books, games

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In the Visitor Center there’s a small store operated by Eastern National. Eastern National provides educational products that are relevant to the theme of the park. There are post cards, kids' books and toy animals. Another store, operated by the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park, is just a short walk away from the Visitor Center, at Mongoose Junction. Either store might have just the right souvenir for you to buy to help remind you of your visit to the Park.

a green lizard, a kind of anole, camouflaged in the fronds of a palm tree

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Of course the best part of a visit to Virgin Islands National Park is being OUTDOORS! Among other things, we have lots of plants and animals that you probably don't have in your backyard. This camouflaged lizard is probably a young iguana.

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Taino petroglyph

You can learn about people who lived in the Virgin Islands long ago. There are 200-year-old ruins from Danish overseers and enslaved Africans. Even older petroglyphs made by the ancient Taino are hidden in the forest.

The view is shown from a boat, as it travels past a headland on the island of St. John. Looking across the water at the cut-away portion of the headland, you can see a geologic sill.

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Oops! If you trip over a rock, it was probably made by the volcano that started building the island about 100 MILLION years ago. Wow; that was during dinosaur time! (Sorry, no dinosaurs ever lived on the Virgin Islands.) See that almost level layer of rock below the reddish rock? It might be what's called a "sill," caused by newer lava pushing into a crack in older rock.

NASA

Virgin Islands National Park, like many National Parks, has dark night skies. When your eyes adapt to the darkness, you may see the Milky Way and stars that you don't see at home. This picture shows the Southern Cross constellation, visible in our night skies during busy visitor seasons.

sand castles in a circle on the beach at Trunk Bay, with an island offshore in the background

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The Virgin Islands National Park is known for beautiful beaches. You can swim in turquoise water, explore coral reefs & sea grasses by snorkeling, and build castles in the sand.

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LOOKING FOR ONLINE ACTIVITIES?

If you can’t come to Virgin Islands National Park, or if you want to learn more about the Park before you come, perhaps you’d like to check out our Park Fun; it links to online activities especially for kids, like...
Online Snorkel Trips.

For Kids