Treetop Golden Hour
JUNE 11 – Warmer weather and longer days are here! We invite you to enjoy an evening with us in the treetops. When the shadows grow long and the evening light has a golden glow, that is a special time to be in the forest. Take a stroll on the Forest Canopy Walk during the golden hour, spend time with friends and family, and enjoy a cold beer from River Roost Brewery. If you’re lucky you may even catch a glimpse of the wild bald eagles.
Remarkable Reptile Day
JUNE 13 – Join us for a day celebrating all things reptiles! From turtle shells to snake smells, you will discover the amazing world of reptile adaptations. Enjoy close encounters, hands-on activities, crafts and more!
Treetop Golden Hour
JUNE 18 – Warmer weather and longer days are here! We invite you to enjoy an evening with us in the treetops. When the shadows grow long and the evening light has a golden glow, that is a special time to be in the forest. Take a stroll on the Forest Canopy Walk during the golden hour, spend time with friends and family, and enjoy a cold beer from Vermont Mobile Spirits. If you’re lucky you may even catch a glimpse of the wild bald eagles.
Drawing from Nature: Songbirds
JUNE 27 – Join us in the Songbird Aviary for active gesture drawings of songbirds. Attempting quick and numerous sketches helps improve visual instincts, and will help participants create more realistic drawings in nature journals and sketchbooks. In the last hour of the workshop, you will begin a more finished work on a songbird from your study. Drawing, sketching, and watercolor experience are not necessary, all skill levels welcome.
Animal Crossing: ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ!
JUNE 28 – Tom Nook needs your help! There’s a whole new village spanning the habitats at the Nature Center and the animal villagers have plenty of chores for you to do; cleaning up their environment, restoring habitat, and completing surveys for community science, and of course, no chores go without compensation
Fairy Hunts
JULY 4 – Where do milkweed pods become bathtubs and beds, and acorn caps become dinnerware? In Fairy Town at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, of course! Join the Fairy Court to help search the forest for our hidden fairy friends in a scavenger hunt adventure. Learn about and connect with the natural world and discover a little magic along the way. You never know who is waiting for you behind the next tree or resting under the next bush.
Drawing from Nature: Dragonflies & Damselflies
JULY 11 – In this workshop, we’ll spend some time outdoors marveling at dragonflies and damselflies, making our own observations. After our inspiration, we’ll head indoors to sketch, ink, and paint from specimens from VTSU Castleton’s Dragonfly/Damselfly collections. Perhaps a Haiku, or two, or ten will emerge by the end of the workshop, along with some elegant renditions of these creatures soaring through our nature journals.
Incredible Insect Festival
JULY 11 – Visit with The Caterpillar Lab as they showcase a wide selection of native caterpillars. Learn about the importance of pollinators while you meet a local beekeeper and get up close and personal with invertebrates of all shapes with Uncharted Wild. Through demonstrations, exhibits, games and crafts, enjoy a fun day discovering the incredible insects we share our planet with.
Coffee in the Canopy
JULY 15 – Greet the day high among the treetops on the Forest Canopy Walk at this free, adults-only cultivation series. Before our opening hours, sip coffee and savor fresh pastries as the morning sun lights up the Ottauquechee River and the forest foliage. Enjoy conversation with our Executive Director Alden Smith and ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Staff in a peaceful forest setting.
Moth Ball
JULY 18 – Ever wonder what that bug is fluttering around your porch light at night? Join a ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ educator on the Forest Canopy Walk at night for the chance to observe, ID, and learn all about moths and nocturnal insects through the simple and fun technique of moth fishing. While waiting for our fluttering friends, meet one of our owl ambassadors who depend on these insects for food and learn how to help out insects near you!
Drawing from Nature: Loose Landscapes
JULY 25 – In this plein air watercolor workshop, we will spend time exploring the landscapes around the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Nature Center. We’ll visit a few spots of interest to the group and pull out a minimum of painting supplies to loosely depict the view. A loose painting style uses shapes and washes to capture the essence of a scene without obsessing over every detail. This enjoyable technique adds abstract or impressionistic pages in your otherwise detailed nature journal. Part of the fun will be sharing nature, our work and various techniques with each other.
ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Survivor
AUGUST 1 – Stranded in the woods of the Nature Center with little more than the clothes on your back! You and your tribe of castaways must learn to provide food, fire, shelter and water for yourselves. Learn basic wilderness survival skills such as compass navigation, fire building, shelter building, creating a water filter, and foraging for wild edibles all while competing against your rival tribe in a set of team building challenges inspired by the TV show.
Coffee in the Canopy
AUGUST 6 – Greet the day high among the treetops on the Forest Canopy Walk at this free, adults-only cultivation series. Before our opening hours, sip coffee and savor fresh pastries as the morning sun lights up the Ottauquechee River and the forest foliage. Enjoy conversation with our Executive Director Alden Smith and ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Staff in a peaceful forest setting.
Fairy House Building Contest
AUGUST 17 – 21: Build for fun, or enter our contest for the chance to win prizes! The contest is open for anyone to build a fairy house at the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Nature Center. Winners for each age category will be selected by a panel of judges and awarded with a gift bag from the Nature Store. A crowd favorite from each category will receive a grand prize of a Private Experience – Animal Encounter.
Fairy Festival
AUGUST 22 – Discover the forest through hands-on play, and celebrate creativity with the art form that is fairy houses! Build for fun, or enter in our contest for the chance to win prizes. Be sure to hit the trails on a fairy hunt for the chance to explore and learn about the forest around you while searching for our fairy friends!
Hawkwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
SEPTEMBER 5 – We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hawkwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Join a ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ educator for this magical event where you can choose your classes and learn all about the real world magic of science!
Coffee in the Canopy
SEPTEMBER 30 – Greet the day high among the treetops on the Forest Canopy Walk at this free, adults-only cultivation series. Before our opening hours, sip coffee and savor fresh pastries as the morning sun lights up the Ottauquechee River and the forest foliage. Enjoy conversation with our Executive Director Alden Smith and ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Staff in a peaceful forest setting.
Coffee in the Canopy
OCTOBER 16 – Greet the day high among the treetops on the Forest Canopy Walk at this free, adults-only cultivation series. Before our opening hours, sip coffee and savor fresh pastries as the morning sun lights up the Ottauquechee River and the forest foliage. Enjoy conversation with our Executive Director Alden Smith and ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Staff in a peaceful forest setting.
Escape from ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ!
OCTOBER 17 – Solve an escape room like no other at the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Nature Center! Put your puzzle solving skills to the test all while learning new facts in our three different themed escape rooms – Forest Forager, Migration Mania, and Prehistoric Predators.
Dinosaur Discoveries
NOVEMBER 14 – Join a ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ educator as we explore dinosaur discoveries! Meet some of T. Rex’s great great grandchildren, and get a chance to touch a living fossil in a program featuring ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ live animal ambassadors. Next brush up on your paleontology skills and join a scavenger hunt for dinosaur bones.
Paint, Sip, & Soar
DECEMBER 12 – Join a ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Educator for a one of a kind – Paint, Sip & Soar – featuring a live raptor model. Get up close and personal with one of our avian ambassadors and garner techniques in painting from life, all while learning about raptor natural history and anatomy.