Self-Guided Tours
The nature center welcomes groups that wish to visit but do not wish to enroll in a class. Groups are welcome to pay general admission fees ($2 for children ages 4-12, $4 for ages 13-59) and explore the nature center with assistance from our interpretive guide sheets and fact flipbooks. These guides take participants on a tour, highlighting important places and suggesting related activities and topics for discussion. Available self-guided tours are:
- Discovery Loop (includes boardwalk forest, pond, interpretive building with animal displays, and children's garden),
- Prairie Loop (includes prairie platform, prairie trails, and bison enclosure),
- Martyn Farm (includes historic 1900's era farm highlights),
- Forest Hike
Groups are welcome to participate in more than one tour. Interpretive materials may be checked out at the admissions desk or through the education office and must be returned before your group leaves the nature center.
Please see the field trip planner for information about scheduling a field trip.
The following objectives, vocabulary, and TEKs may be addressed during this field trip.Objectives
Students will:
- Use their senses to observe nature.
- Observe different ecosystems, such as pond, forest, prairie, or bayou.
- Identify some members of the ecosystems they observe.
Vocabulary
- Deciduous - a tree that loses its leaves in the winter
- Cold-blooded - does not have the ability to regulate its own body temperature; depends on its environment for heating and cooling
- Decomposer - something that breaks down matter into smaller pieces
- Lichen - algae and fungus living together in a symbiotic relationship; organism usually found on bark of trees
- Epiphyte - plant that grows on another plant but gets its water and nutrients from the air
- Prairie - ecosystem made up mostly of grasses
- Pond - water ecosystem that is formed when a low spot in the ground collects rainwater
- Forest - ecosystem made up mostly of trees
- Native - something that was born or originated in the place where it lives
- Invasive - something that invades and takes over; in particular, plants or animals that spread very quickly, endangering native plants and animals
- Extinct - no longer any of a particular species living
Pre and Post Trip Materials (PDF Format)
Self-Guided Tour Pre-Trip Activity (Discovery Loop Pre-Trip Quiz)
Self-Guided Tour Post-Trip Activity (ABNC Ecosystems)