Grab some work gloves, help restore the environment, and get a behind-the-scenes look at your preserves!

Build a bridge to nature with your young ones. Experience how multisensory nature connections help young children develop healthy and happy brains and bodies. Time spent in nature is critical to children's social-emotional, and physical development. Child-centered, exploratory, imaginative play fosters creativity, emotional well-being, independent learning, and problem solving.

Learn the stories artifacts can tell by taking a closer look at quilts, clothing, and sewing artifacts in the exhibit, Threads of Time. We will then do activities and create crafts around the objects we discuss.

Join us for an exploration of the remarkable adaptations, fascinating behaviors, and unique calls of our local frogs and toads.

Learn about the unique life cycles and adaptations of frogs and toads as well as which species can be found in Lake County. Practice identifying different frog calls and then head out on the trail to listen for who's "croaking" in the woods at night.

Join us at this Lake County birding hot spot to look for migratory bird species. Spotting scopes and binoculars will be available at our education table.

Join a naturalist and take a leisurely stroll through this beautiful preserve. Learn about the history of this site and take a close look at some of the interesting plants and animals that we come upon.

April brings the beginning of songbird migration. Join skilled birders on these walks. Bring binoculars if you have them.

Grab some work gloves, help restore the environment, and get a behind-the-scenes look at your preserves!

Únase a un educador ambiental y explore la reserva forestal Nippersink. Caminata es en Español y Ingles.
Join an environmental educator and explore Nippersink Forest Preserve. Walk is in Spanish & English.

Discover the benefits of gardening with native plants. We'll cover the basics of how to get started including site inventory, plant selection, and maintenance.

Hear the story of the motion picture industry from the 1890s to 1910. Learn about Edward Amet's backyard movie studio in Waukegan and Lake County's connection to Essanay Studios in Chicago.

Members of the family Parulidae, wood-warblers are the colorful jewels of spring bird migration. Learn identification tips as well as the fascinating behaviors of these tiny dynamos during this indoor presentation.

Welcome warblers and other migrating bird species back to Lake County through crafts and hands-on activities. Then take to the trails to practice spring migration identification!

Join us for an opportunity to see the amazing courtship flight of the male American woodcock as he performs his areal courtship flight in the evening in the springtime marsh.

Our local woodlands come alive with wildflowers and migrating birds in spring. Join us for a leisurely stroll and experience bursts of colorful birds in the tree tops and wildflowers on the forest floor during this morning walk to celebrate Earth Day.

Come out to Nippersink Forest Preserve to do some pond scooping. Participants will use nets to see what can be found under the water. Learn how to identify some of the aquatic critters using scientific pond keys and scopes.

Whether you are new to native gardening or a seasoned veteran, join us each month to learn about native plants and how to use them in your home landscapes.

Join us at this Lake County birding hot spot to look for migratory bird species. Spotting scopes and binoculars will be available at our education table.

Join other community scientists throughout the greater Chicago Region taking part in the City Nature Challenge. Educators at the Ryerson Welcome Center will orient you to the iNaturalist app (or Seek for young explorers) so you can take pictures and record wild plants and animals at Ryerson and later in your own backyard. Information gathered is used by scientists and researchers to better understand and care for nature throughout Lake County and beyond.