Explore This Park

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  • Kids & Youth

For Kids

EVERY KID IN A PARK

 

The Every Kid in a Park Initiative calls on agencies to help get all children to visit and enjoy the outdoors and inspire a new generation of Americans to experience their country's unrivaled public lands and waters. Every fourth-grader in the Nation will receive an "Every Kid in a Park" pass that's good for free admission to all of America's federal lands and waters -- for them and their families -- for a full year.

►Link to the Every Kid in a Park - website for kids!

 

Junior Ranger Self Adventure
Stop at the Carriage Barn Visitor Center to receive your free Junior Ranger Book (or click this link to download a pdf). To earn your badge hike the Junior Ranger Loop around the mansion and through the forests. Complete activities along the way, interview a park ranger, and return to the Visitor Center to be sworn in as a Junior Ranger.

Attend a Junior Ranger Program
Throughout the summer join a park ranger for a special kids' program with topics exploring everything from art to bugs and orienteering to flowers. Please call the park visitor center [phone] ext. 22 for a current list of Junior Ranger programs or click here.

 

Girl Scout NPS Rangers Palo Alto Battlefield NHS Archaeology Event
NPS Photo

Girl Scout Ranger Program
The National Park Service and Girl Scouts of the United States of America have partnered to create the Girl Scout Ranger Program.
Through this program you are invited to:

• play outdoors
• learn about national parks and why these places are preserved
• develop your leadership skills.

While having fun in a national park, you can also:

• earn badges
• complete Journeys
• achieve Take Action and Highest Award Projects.

As an individual or with your troop, design an activity or participate in established educational programs and volunteer-service opportunities at a national park. Earn a certificate from the National park for five hours of service and a Girl Scout Ranger patch for ten hours of service. Download this Girl Scout Ranger brochure.

 

SUMMER CAMP PROGRAMS

 

Mountains and Rivers Forever
A seven-day summer camp adventure for middle school students in the National Park and surrounding area, including an overnight camping trip. With a focus on instilling values of personal responsibility, hard work, outdoor enjoyment, education, and respect of the environment through a variety of conservation experiences.

Fun in the Forest Day Camps
Become a "Nature Explorer" through art, music, movement and hands-on play in the forest. A partnership with Artistree/Purple Crayon Productions.

Please call 802-457-3368 x222 for more information.

 

QUESTING

Forest Quest
Seek out treasures hidden in the Mount Tom Forest! Activities and riddles will reveal clues to help you unravel the forest's mysteries. This two-hour family-oriented hike is held several times a season. Check out the schedule of events, or call 802-457-3368 ext 222. It can also be self-guided. Pick up a copy at the Carriage Barn Visitor Center, or print it at home (make sure to get both documents):Page 1: Map and Directions Pages 2-4: Clues

Check-Out a Family Backpack
Go out and explore the park on your own! Stop by the Carriage Barn Visitor Center to check-out a Family Backpack. Four different backpacks explore the topics of trees, art, recreation, and wildlife through activities, games, guidebooks, and crafts.

Take a Self-Guided Quest
Using a guide filled with clues, activities, and a map, explore the park through several different hikes. Choose from: Forest Quest, Northwoods Walk, Tree Walk, and Robert Frost Walk and discover a great way for families to engage youth in exploration.

Other quests are available throughout the Woodstock area. Please contact Valley Quest for more information at 802-291-9100 x107 or visit their website: www.vitalcommunities.org/valleyquest/

Visit Billings Farm and Museum

Enjoy a variety of family focused activities and events while exploring one of the few historically operating dairy farms in America and a museum of Vermont's rural past as a gateway to Vermont's rural heritage. Billings Farm features many aspects of farm work, including care of the Jersey cows and other livestock, milking of the herd, crop rotation, and feed production. For more information visit: www.billingsfarm.org or call 802-457-2355.