Parks serve as a reprieve from the outside, often stressful world, but during the time of the pandemic many are skipping their visits to local parks to avoid crowded trails and playgrounds.
If you and your family are missing your time spent at parks, consider the recently launched Virtual Junior Ranger program, created by the National Park Service for children ages 5 to 11-plus. The program offers online activities to help your little ones complete their Junior Ranger missions from home, resulting in a virtual badge and certificate.
To gain the badge and certificate, kids aged 5 to 7 must complete two or more activities, ages 8 to 10 must complete three or more and children from ages 11 and up must complete four or more.
Activities include identifying park symbols; learning about rocks, erosion and weathering; reading stories from the Ojibwa native tribe about the moon, the Northern Lights, Bigfoot and more; exploring the natural environment with the five senses; writing nature poems; and becoming “web detectives” using the NPS website to learn more about national parks and animals.
To see all activities and to learn more, visit nps.gov.
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