Field Trips

MAPLE SUGARING

Location: Caldwell Nature Center

Season Available: Winter

Grade Level: Pre-K - 5

Experience how Sugar Maple trees produce sap and why it is collected for syrup only during this brief season. Watch us collect the sap and cook it down. Taste maple sap in three stages of production. The basic 
program is one hour in length with half taking place outdoors. An extended program for grades K - 5 that lasts up to 3 hours, including a 30 minute lunch break, covers the basic program plus a hike to tap a Maple tree, and interactive demonstration of Native Americans’ use of maple sap, science experiments and additional hands-on activities. Half of the extended program occurs outdoors.

FOSSILS, SOILS AND CINCINNATI GEOLOGY

Location: Caldwell Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: Pre-K - 6

Children participate in an interactive introduction and an exploratory creek hike to find Cincinnati’s famous fossils. A two hour program for Pre-K through Kindergarten covers fossils only. Grades 1 and older investigate geologic processes such as rock formation, soil types, weathering and other forces, past and present, that shape Cincinnati. 

ADAPTING TO HABITATS

Location: Caldwell Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: Pre-K - 2

Discover the differences between living and non-living things as we learn how plants and animals interact with their physical environment. We investigate the basic needs of organisms, how their habitat fills those needs and the important role of adaptations. During the hike, children explore three different local habitats.

ECOLOGY: WHAT’S THE CONNECTION?

Location: Caldwell Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: 3 - 5

Everything is connected! Study how organisms survive in their ecosystem and how the energy all organisms need flows through the system. As children explore food chains and food webs, they discover what roles everyone plays in an ecosystem and that everything is important.

THE GREEN TEAM

Location: Caldwell Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: 3 - 6

Children investigate the unique role of plants as producers of food through photosynthesis. A hike can include plant life cycles, pollination, seed distribution, how plant structures are related to function and interactions between plants and animals. Fall programs can include leaf collections and the use of classification keys. 

WEATHER 101

Location: Caldwell Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: 2 - 6

A lively series of demonstrations introduces children to how air, water and heat produce Earth’s weather. Children learn how to read a weather map. They perform experiments introducing air pressure, convection currents, and how different types of clouds bring different types of weather. On the hike, we look for the effects of weathering and erosion and measure temperature in various locations.

LOCAL WILDLIFE

Location: California Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: Pre-K - 2

Explore the wildlife in the Cincinnati region! Hike the preserve to look for animal homes, and how they meet their needs in our area: food, water, shelter, space. Meet some local animals in the Nature Center and learn about the adaptations that help them live here. We will also explore a little bit of animal classification. Suggested program times: Pre-K up to 2 hours, K - 2 up to 3 hours.

WONDERS OF THE SEASONS

Location: California Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: Pre-K - 2

Fabulous Fall: Learn all about the wonders of fall. Enjoy a puppet show highlighting how animals prepare for winter, take a hike to explore the season in person, and make a fall-themed craft. This program is typically 1.5 - 2 hours long.

Spring Into Spring!: After a long winter, explore the wonders of spring renewal in nature! Enjoy a puppet show that focuses on how local animals got through the winter and prepare for spring. Take a hike to explore the wonders of the new season, and make a spring-themed craft. This program is typically 1.5 - 2 hours long.

“TREE”-MENDOUS TREES

Location: California Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: Pre-K - 5

This program is a well-rounded introduction to all aspects of the plant kingdom. Hike the preserve and explore basic tree identification and uses, based on the season. Inside, learn about plant physiology and photosynthesis. Suggested program times: Pre-K up to 2 hours, Kg up to 3 hours, 1st – 5th up to 4 hours.

HISTORY AND MYSTERY OF MAPLE

Location: California Woods Nature Center

Season Available: February - First week of March

Grade Level: Pre-K - 5

From the Native American, to pioneer, to current sugar farmers, we taste and experience the magic of maple sugaring. Learn about the fascinating process trees use to make sweet sap and why this is the only time per year we can use it. Assist the Naturalist in tapping trees, collecting sap, and witness the transformation from sap to syrup. Program length: Pre-K - K: up to 2 hours, 1st - 5th grades: up to 3 hours.

WHAT'S UP WITH THE WEATHER

Location: California Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: 2 - 5

Why is weather so hard to predict? Become Junior Meteorologists and learn about the many factors involved in figuring out the weather. A lively series of demonstrations introduces children to how air, temperature, water, the sun and the Earth itself interact to produce weather. Students learn how to read a weather map and symbols with a hypothetical weather situation in our area. Learn about convection currents, air pressure, cloud formation, and how to read the clouds to make predictions about the weather. See how the Earth's orbit influences the seasons. Go outside and look for the effects of weathering and erosion and we explore temperature differences and microclimates around the park. 

THE ECOLOGY OF HABITATS

Location: California Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: 2 - 8

Explore the forest, meadow and creek habitats in a single day! Hike to each habitat and learn about their fascinating ecological interactions. A short indoor presentation looks at various animals and their adaptations for success as well as predator/prey relationships. This program can be adapted to include cycles in nature. Life cycles can include: insects, amphibians, even fungi! Natural cycles can include the water cycle, carbon cycle, ect. This program is easily customized.

LANDS ACROSS TIME - THE GEOLOGY OF CINCINNATI

Location: California Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: 3 - 6

Through interactive demonstrations and hands-on exploration, learn about the rock cycle, soils, glaciation, freeze/thaw processes and fossilization. Hike our Lick Run Creek to learn about erosion. Find fossils in the field. Children will be permitted to take a fossil home. The program can be customized to the teacher's lesson plans. Sturdy footwear is required. Plan to get dirty.

AN OLD WAY OF LIFE: A PIONEER EXPERIENCE

Location: California Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: 3 - 6

Learn about pioneer ways and experience a typical day in the life of a pioneer child. Children discover how lifestyles, religion, customs and traditions helped shape Cincinnati. An Oregon Trail inspired game and interactive hike introduce children to characters of that period.

SPRING MAGIC

Location: LaBoiteaux Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Spring

Grade Level: Pre-K - 2

Celebrate the season of new life with a trail walk and activities that illustrate nature’s important cycles. Discover how plants and animals meet their basic needs in various local habitats. 

THE WONDERS OF FALL

Location: LaBoiteaux Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall

Grade Level: Pre-K - 3

Naturalists focus on how plants and animals meet their survival needs in the Fall. Hike to observe seasonal plant changes and signs of animals preparing for winter. Activities on migration, hibernation and other ways local animals survive cold weather complete the day.

NATIVE AMERICAN LIFE

Location: LaBoiteaux Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: Pre-K - 4

This interactive program focuses on the everyday life of an Ohio Native American child in the late 1700’s, including food, clothing and shelter. Children experience daily life skills, create pictographs, and participate in fun games. The informative hike stresses Native Americans’ historic uses of forest resources.

THE NATURAL WORLD

Location: LaBoiteaux Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: Pre-K - 6

Does your class know more about the Internet than their backyard? Enjoy a 
grab-bag of the Naturalists’ favorite activities with the emphasis on fun and exploration (They’ll soak up lots of information as well). 
Wear old clothes and sturdy shoes for woods exploration. Touch nature, meet an animal or two and play a game.

RECYCLING

Location: LaBoiteaux Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: 1 - 8

“Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” is also Nature’s way. Learn about natural resources and cycles, composting, recycling and other ways to minimize waste through a hike and fun activities.

PLANTS ARE FUN-DAMENTAL

Location: LaBoiteaux Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: 2 - 4

Explore on a hike through a meadow and forest how a wide variety of plants provide food and shelter to animals, and see how they grow and change through the seasons. Investigate the parts of a flower and the importance of pollination for all living things. Learn about seeds and the life cycle of trees. 

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, RAVINE TO FREEDOM

Location: LaBoiteaux Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: 3 - 8

LaBoiteaux Woods was on the path of an important network of Underground Railroad activity in College Hill during the 1840s-1850s. Children walk part of a route used by escaping slaves on a rugged trail hike through the woods. Indoor activities include a simulated journey to freedom and using maps to trace escape routes. Winter is the best time to experience this program: with fewer tree leaves, views are better of the local topography, students can imagine the harshness of the cold weather with minimal clothing as it was the preferred time of the year for the slaves to escape due to more hours of darkness.

BRINGING LITERATURE TO LIFE: SURVIVAL LITERATURE

Location: LaBoiteaux Woods Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: 4 - 8

Hatchet or My Side of the Mountain comes to life as students hike, locate sources of water and wild edibles, practice survival skills like creating a shelter and fire building and discuss animals from the book using taxidermy mounts and live specimens from the Nature Center. The program builds excitement, deepens understanding and instills self-confidence. Please let us know which book you choose and read it before the program. Minimum of three hours needed for this program.

A BUG'S LIFE

Location: Trailside Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: K - 6

They’re creepy, crawly and all together fascinating! Discover the exciting world of a bug’s life, as we look at the most successful group of animals on the planet. From the depths of Burnet Woods to the butterfly gardens of Trailside Nature Center, this program offers a unique opportunity to examine metamorphosis, life cycles and the unique roles they play in our day-to-day lives.

CINCINNATI SKIES

Location: Trailside Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: 1 - 12

Experience the oldest planetarium west of the Allegheny Mountains. Discover stars, constellations, galaxies and more. Learn the stories behind Orion, the Big and Little Dippers and many others. Includes Native American, African, Greek and Roman legends. Children participate in hands-on activities revolving around planets, moon phases and constructing star charts for nighttime viewing.

PLANTS: SEEDS TO TREES

Location: Trailside Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Spring

Grade Level: 1 - 6

This exciting program functions as a primer on plant life. Children learn about the structure, function and reproduction of local trees and wildflowers as they explore the wooded hillsides of this urban forest. Through the use of hands-on activities, children are exposed to the process of photosynthesis, seasonal changes, seed dispersal and more.

HABITATS AND ADAPTATIONS

Location: Trailside Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: 1 - 6

This program introduces children to our local habitats, their composition and how plants and animals have adapted to live within them. Through a combination of exploration, fun-filled activities and live animal demonstrations, children gain a greater understanding of the world around them.

WEATHER MILD TO WILD

Location: Trailside Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: 2 - 6

A lively series of demonstrations introduces children to how air, water and heat produce Earth’s weather. Engaging activities bring the water cycle to life. On the hike, we look for the effects of weathering and erosion and explore how animals cope with the changing seasons.

RECYCLING AND RESOURCES

Location: Trailside Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: 2 - 6

Children explore ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle our natural resources through hands-on and interactive activities. Fun and active techniques are employed to engage children in the recycling of solid waste, nature’s recycling methods, composting and natural resources.

NATURALIST GUEST SPEAKER

Location: Trailside Nature Center

Season Available: Fall, Winter, Spring

Grade Level: 9 - 12

Parks provides a variety of 30-to-45-minute talks and presentations that can be brought in person to your classroom. Topics include Natural History, Local History, Astronomy and Environmental Issues. Presentations can be tailored to meet your curriculum standards.