Preschool - Kindergarten Programs

Choose from programs held at the Kalamazoo Nature Center, or let us come to you!

Our Place:  Programs at the Kalamazoo Nature Center

The Five Senses and the Wonders of Nature
FALL & SPRING, 1.5 HRS
Explore a woodland path one sense at a time and gain a new perspective on nature. Look for colors and shapes, smell a plant, listen for animals, compare a variety of touches.
Living & non-living, observation; L.OL.00.12; S.IP.00.11; S.IP.00.14; BCAMSC Kit

Mini-Beasts: Insects and Their Relatives Up-Close
FALL & SPRING, 1.5 HRS
Investigate some rotten logs and an old field in search of creepy crawlies that live in your neighborhood.
Animal needs; L.OL.00.11; L.OL.00.12

Settlers Prepare for Winter (At the DeLano Homestead)
NOVEMBER–DECEMBER, 1.5 HRS
Make ginger cookies, play with old-fashioned toys, and learn how children lived  in a log cabin and an 1800s farm house.
Learn about the past, basic needs for humans; L.OL.00.11; K-H2.01,4; K-G5.0.1

Dazzling Dinosaurs and Other Reptiles
FALL & WINTER, 1.5 HRS (Indoor Program)
Go on an imaginary dig, meet a live turtle, and find out how scientists learn about extinct animals.
Living & non-living; L.OL.00.12

The following classes are for Preschool - First Grade:

Who Hibernates?
DECEMBER–FEBRUARY, 1.5 HRS
Meet some talkative puppets and learn what wild animals do when the snow comes.  Take a hike in the winter woods to search for animal tracks.
Animal needs, observation; L.OL.OO.11; L.OL.00.12

Maple Sugaring
LATE FEBRUARY & MARCH, 1.5 HRS
Find out how trees make sap from some friendly puppets.  Hike to a sugar bush, visit a sugar shack and taste real syrup.
Plant needs, importance of sunlight; L.OL.00.11; E.ES.01.12

Barnyard Friends
LATE APRIL–MID-JUNE, 1.5 HRS
Preschoolers play a grocery-sorting game. Kindergartners and first-graders learn about plant and animal needs and put together a food chain from farm to child. All children will meet
the farm animals and go on a tractor-drawn wagon ride.
Plant & animal needs, plant uses of earth materials, characteristics of heredity;

Into the Woods with Little Owl
ALL SEASONS, 1 HR  (Indoor Program)
Hear the story of a young owl.  Learn what animals big and small need to survive.  Meet a live owl!
Adaptations, physical features, animal needs, adult & young stages; L.OL.00.11; L.HE.01.11; K-G5.0.1