Field Trips & Outreach

The Nature Center includes a small interpretive building and five miles of trails on a 150+ acre wildlife preserve. The Center offers a wide variety of educational programs including field trips to the Center.  Programs held at Roaring Brook Nature Center explore the wide variety of habitats in the refuge. Participants must come dressed to go outdoors

PreKindergarten
Kindergarten to Grade 2
Grades 3 to 4
Grades 5 to 8

Please call the Nature Center so we may tailor the program to meet the needs of your students and curriculum.

Contact us for Special Pre-School Programs and Packages

All in the Family
We all belong to a family. So do snakes, frogs, foxes, robins, and roses. Let us show you how those families are similar and how they differ.

Little Sprouts – Changing Seasons
How do plants and animals deal with the changing weather and climate?
Sign up for individual programs or all three.

• What’s Up With Fall? – How do plants and animals prepare for Connecticut’s harshest season?
• Frozen – Who braves Connecticut’s winters? Learn to read the clues left by our winter residents and see how animals and plants survive the long winter season.
• Spring Fling! – Nature makes gradual but continuous changes from spring buds to ladybugs. Hands-on exploration brings these changes alive.

It’s Alive
Examine differences between living things and non-living things through hands-on discovery and observation of live plants and animals

From Seed to Seed
What is a stem, branch, root? What is a seed and what goes on inside it?

It’s Not Just Dirt
What is soil and why is it so important to our survival?

Our Watery World
Water is amazing! Learn about water in all its fascinating forms.

Animals on the Move
Living things move in many different ways. Find out about fins, wings, and animal movements!

It’s Alive
Learn how to distinguish living creatures from the non-living components of their environment. What do living things need in order to survive?
Key concepts: Life cycles, reproduction, growth, energy, properties of living and non-living things, response to stimuli, growth, observing similarities and differences.  LS1.A; LS1.B; LS1.C

All in the Family
We all belong to a family. So do snakes, frogs, foxes, robins, and roses. Let us show you how those families are similar and how they differ.
Key concepts: life cycles, metamorphosis, body structure, describing/sorting/classifying organisms.  LS3.A; LS3.B

From Seed to Seed (Fall and Spring Only)
Explore how flowering plants change throughout their life cycles in order to survive.
Key concepts: plant structures, life cycles of flowering plants, seed production and distribution.  LS1.A; LS1.C; LS2.A

It’s Not Just Dirt
What is soil? What color is it? How does it sound? feel? smell? Does soil change from place to place? Why is it important to us?
Key concepts: Soil quality, food chain, ecosystems, physical properties of soil, Earth materials, soil types, textures, biodiversity, erosion. ESS2.C; ESS3.A; PS3.D

Home Sweet Home: Habitats
All living things, including people, need water, air, food and a place to live. Find out how our local wildlife use natural resources to meet their survival needs.
Key concepts: habitats, adaptation, ecosystems, sorting and classification of characteristics, resources, food web  ESS3.A; LS2.A; LS2.B

Our Watery World: Ice, Water, Vapor (Winter Program)
Earth is a watery planet and water is the only substance on Earth that is present in all three states of matter – as a solid, liquid or gas and each state has different observable properties. Learn why water is so important and what it can do to shape the Earth and all life on our planet.
Key concepts: states of matter; temperature; solid, liquid, gas; seasonal changes; observation of physical phenomena.  ESS2.C; PS1.A ; PS1.B

Insects and their Relatives (May to October Only)
Explore different insect habitats and see what special adaptations insects have developed to help them survive. Observe insects close up in their environments.
Key concepts: insect body parts, metamorphosis, adaptations, habitats, ecosystems, sorting and classification of characteristics  LS1.B; LS3.A; LS3.B

Animals on the Move
All living things move but they all move in different ways. Find out about fins, wings and animal movements!
Key Concepts: Organism, adaptations, energy, structures, motion  PS3.A ; LS1.A; LS2.A

Changing Seasons
How do plants and animals deal with the changing weather and climate?

• What’s Up With Fall? – How do plants and animals prepare for Connecticut’s harshest season?
• Frozen – Who braves Connecticut’s winters? Learn to read the clues left by our winter residents and see how animals and plants survive the long winter season.
• Spring Fling  –  Nature makes gradual but continuous changes from spring buds to ladybugs. Hands-on exploration brings these changes alive.
  Key concepts: making observations, weather, seasons, animal and plant observations.  ESS2.D; PS3.B

Who’s For Dinner?
Explore the basic concepts of food chains and webs. Learn how energy cycles through Connecticut’s ecosystems.
Key concepts: Food webs and chains, energy flow in ecosystems, recycling, decomposers, herbivores, carnivores, producers, consumers, photosynthesis, stability of system  PS2.C; PS3.D; LS1.C; LS2.A; LS2.B

Nature’s Engineers
What is an engineer? Meet animal engineers and see how the structures they build are designed to help them raise their young, survive the winter, store food, or escape predators. Learn how some of these animals change their environment and what we can learn from them.
Key concepts: Habitat, structures and behaviors that allow animals to meet basic needs, ecosystem, adaptation, food chains  ESS2.E; LS2.A

Animal & Plant Life Cycles (various programs)
Plants and animals have unique and diverse life cycles. Choose our general life cycle program or a topic from the list below:

• Insects and Their Relatives – May to October only
  Explore different insect habitats and see what special adaptations insects have developed to help them survive. Observe insects close up in their environments.
• Birds and Butterflies
  Learn how the life cycles of songbirds and butterflies are linked.
• Reptiles & Amphibians
  In spite of some similarities, they can be distinguished by their physical appearance and different stages of life.
• Marvelous Mammals
  Some mammals need decades to reach maturity, others years, and some only weeks.
  Key concepts: structural body parts, metamorphosis, adaptations, habitats, ecosystems, sorting and classification of characteristics, inheritance and variation of traits, interactions with the environment, diversity of life cycles  LS1.B; LS3.A; LS3.B

Adaptations (various programs)
Choose our general Adaptations program or a topic from the list below:

• Flowers, Poisons and Thorns: The Secret World of Plants
  It’s a jungle out there and plants are not defenseless. Learn the clever strategies that plants use to win, or sometimes lose, the battle for survival.
• Predator and Prey
  Learn how animals big and small find food and avoid being eaten.
• Claws, Paws & Jaws
  Animals have many interesting structural adaptations to help them survive.
• Going, Going, Gone (animal survivals and extinctions)
  Some kinds of plants and animals that once lived on Earth are no longer found anywhere. Why did some animals survive while others disappeared?
• Leader of the Pack
  Learn why some animals find it works better to work as a team.
• Alien Invaders!
  Find out how Invasive plants and animals are changing local habitats and food chains.
• Species-specific programs tailored to your students’ interests (ie. Reptiles, Birds)

Key concepts: Ecosystems, adaptations, life cycle, structures of living things, extinction, animal survival, fossil, camouflage  LS1. A; LS4.B; LS4.C

Living With Nature
Bears, bobcats, beavers, and bats are our neighbors. Learn how we can share our backyards with these and other animals and what we can learn from them.
Key concepts: human impacts, habitat, adaptions, life cycles, interaction, plant and animal observation, observing similarities and differences, biodiversity, natural resources  ESS3.A; ESS3.C; LS4.D

Animal Super Senses
Animals have body parts that capture and convey information needed for their growth and survival. How do animals perceive the world? Discover animals’ super senses and their odd ones, too!
Key concepts: Adaptations, sensory organs, animal structures, senses, information processing, responses to stimuli, structures of body parts, observations, adaptation, electromagnetic spectrum  LS1.A; LS1.D; PS4.B

Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands
Discover how Native Americans relied on their natural environment for all their survival needs including shelter, clothing, and food.
Key concepts: shelter, adaptations, crops, ways humans obtain water and other goods, social studies  LS4.D

Connecticut Rocks!
Every rock tells a story. Some of these stories are exciting and happen very quickly while others happen over a very long period of time. Knowing about Connecticut’s rocks and their stories helps us to understand how Connecticut’s landforms came to be.
Key concepts: geology, earth materials, erosion, catastrophic and gradual change.  ESS1.C; ESS2.B; ESS2.C

Who’s For Dinner?
Explore the basic concepts of food chains and webs. Learn how energy cycles through Connecticut’s ecosystems.
Key concepts: Food webs and chains, energy flow in ecosystems, recycling, decomposers, herbivores, carnivores, producers, consumers, photosynthesis, stability of system  PS2.C; PS3.D; LS1.C; LS2.A; LS2.B

Nature’s Engineers
What is an engineer? Meet animal engineers and see how the structures they build are designed to help them raise their young, survive the winter, store food, or escape predators. Learn how some of these animals change their environment and what we can learn from them.
Key concepts: Habitat, structures and behaviors that allow animals to meet basic needs, ecosystem, adaptation, food chains ESS2.E; LS2.A

Animal & Plant Life Cycles (various programs)
Plants and animals have unique and diverse life cycles. Choose our general life cycle program or a topic from the list below:

• Insects and Their Relatives – May to October only
  Explore different insect habitats and see what special adaptations insects have developed to help them survive. Observe insects close up in their environments.
• Birds and Butterflies
  Learn how the life cycles of songbirds and butterflies are linked.
• Reptiles & Amphibians
  In spite of some similarities, they can be distinguished by their physical appearance and different stages of life.
• Marvelous Mammals
  Some mammals need decades to reach maturity, others years, and some only weeks.
  Key concepts: structural body parts, metamorphosis, adaptations, habitats, ecosystems, sorting and classification of characteristics, inheritance and variation of traits, interactions with the environment, diversity of life cycles LS1.B; LS3.A; LS3.B

Adaptations (various programs)
Choose our general Adaptations program or a topic from the list below:

• Flowers, Poisons and Thorns: The Secret World of Plants
  It’s a jungle out there and plants are not defenseless. Learn the clever strategies that plants use to win, or sometimes lose, the battle for survival.
• Predator and Prey
  Learn how animals big and small find food and avoid being eaten.
• Claws, Paws & Jaws
  Animals have many interesting structural adaptations to help them survive.
• Going, Going, Gone (animal survivals and extinctions)
  Some kinds of plants and animals that once lived on Earth are no longer found anywhere. Why did some animals survive while others disappeared?
• Leader of the Pack
  Learn why some animals find it works better to work as a team.
• Alien Invaders!
  Find out how Invasive plants and animals are changing local habitats and food chains.
• Species-specific programs tailored to your students’ interests (ie. Reptiles, Birds)

Key concepts: Ecosystems, adaptations, life cycle, structures of living things, extinction, animal survival, fossil, camouflage  LS1. A; LS4.B; LS4.C

Living With Nature
Bears, bobcats, beavers, and bats are our neighbors. Learn how we can share our backyards with these and other animals and what we can learn from them.
Key concepts: human impacts, habitat, adaptions, life cycles, interaction, plant and animal observation, observing similarities and differences, biodiversity, natural resources  ESS3.A; ESS3.C; LS4.D

Animal Super Senses
Animals have body parts that capture and convey information needed for their growth and survival. How do animals perceive the world? Discover animals’ super senses and their odd ones, too!
Key concepts: Adaptations, sensory organs, animal structures, senses, information processing, responses to stimuli, structures of body parts, observations, adaptation, electromagnetic spectrum  LS1.A; LS1.D; PS4.B

Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands
Discover how Native Americans relied on their natural environment for all their survival needs including shelter, clothing, and food.
Key concepts: shelter, adaptations, crops, ways humans obtain water and other goods, social studies  LS4.D

Connecticut Rocks!
Every rock tells a story. Some of these stories are exciting and happen very quickly while others happen over a very long period of time. Knowing about Connecticut’s rocks and their stories helps us to understand how Connecticut’s landforms came to be.
Key concepts: geology, earth materials, erosion, catastrophic and gradual change.  ESS1.C; ESS2.B; ESS2.C

Family Matters
Genetics, natural selection, and environment influence plant and animal survival. Selective breeding also can change species traits.
Key concepts: inheritance of traits, variation in traits, natural selection  LS1.B; LS3.A; LS3.B; LS4.B

The Amazing Soil Food Web
Explore the basic concepts of food chains and webs to understand how energy cycles through soils and, in turn, through other ecosystems.
Key concepts: Food webs and chains, energy flow in ecosystems, recycling, decomposers, herbivores, carnivores, producers, consumers, interdependent relationships in ecosystems  PS3.D ; LS1. C; LS2.A; LS2.B

Soil: Earth’s Thinnest Crust
Soil is the connection between the Earth’s geology and its biology. More than sediment, soil is an ecosystem as complex as a forest, savanna, or jungle. Learn how soil is formed and why it is so important to our own survival.
Key concepts: Soil quality, food chain, ecosystems, physical properties of soil, Earth materials, soil types, textures, biodiversity  ESS2.C; ESS3.A; PS3.D; LS1.C

Changing Land, Changing Wildlife
As Connecticut’s ecosystems have changed over time, the state’s wildlife has also changed. Observe, first-hand, how natural phenomena and human activities have impacted animal populations. Tour our Changing Land, Changing Wildlife Exhibits.
Key concepts: Ecosystems, how natural and human activity changes habitats and inhabitants, adaptations, extinction, resources needed by organisms, conservation of resources, biogeology  ESS2.E; ESS3.C; LS2.C; LS4.D

Bedrock to Stone Walls (2 hour program – Spring and Fall only)
Geology, ecology, and human history have combined to create the landscape we see today. This program combines aspects of “Connecticut Rocks” and “Changing Land, Changing Wildlife.”
Key concepts: Ecosystems, properties and classification of earth materials, rocks and minerals, conservation of resources, effects of human activities on habitats  ESS2.A; ESS2.C; ESS2.E

Water Life: Big and Small (Available as a 2 hour program)
Use a variety of tools, including microscopes and hand lenses to discover micro and macro organisms found in local streams and ponds. Discover their adaptations and what makes CT’s aquatic habitats special.
Key concepts: Adaptation, ecosystems, food chain, erosion, aquatic environment, stream formation  LS1. A; LS4.C

Keeping Water Clean
Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on our water resources. Today, individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments. This program uses Enviroscape models demonstrate how to prevent pollution.
Key concepts: why water is essential for life, point and non-point water pollutants, watersheds, how substances dissolve in ground water, natural resources, conservation of resources  ESS3.C

Our Watery World: Earth’s Water Cycle
Examine the hydrologic cycle and learn how water shapes our land, modifies climate, and affects ecosystems.
Key concepts: water cycle, properties of liquids, surface and ground water, erosion, physical and chemical properties of water, river formation  PS1.A; PS1.B; ESS2.A; ESS2.C

Who’s For Dinner?
Explore the basic concepts of food chains and webs. Learn how energy cycles through Connecticut’s ecosystems.
Key concepts: Food webs and chains, energy flow in ecosystems, recycling, decomposers, herbivores, carnivores, producers, consumers, photosynthesis, stability of system
PS2.C; PS3.D; LS1.C; LS2.A; LS2.B

Nature’s Engineers
What is an engineer? Meet animal engineers and see how the structures they build are designed to help them raise their young, survive the winter, store food, or escape predators. Learn how some of these animals change their environment and what we can learn from them.
Key concepts: Habitat, structures and behaviors that allow animals to meet basic needs, ecosystem, adaptation, food chains
ESS2.E; LS2.A

Animal & Plant Life Cycles (various programs)
Plants and animals have unique and diverse life cycles. Choose our general life cycle program or a topic from the list below:

• Insects and Their Relatives – May to October only
  Explore different insect habitats and see what special adaptations insects have developed to help them survive. Observe insects close up in their environments.
• Birds and Butterflies
  Learn how the life cycles of songbirds and butterflies are linked.
• Reptiles & Amphibians
  In spite of some similarities, they can be distinguished by their physical appearance and different stages of life.
• Marvelous Mammals
  Some mammals need decades to reach maturity, others years, and some only weeks.
  Key concepts: structural body parts, metamorphosis, adaptations, habitats, ecosystems, sorting and classification of characteristics, inheritance and variation of traits, interactions with the environment, diversity of life cycles
  LS1.B; LS3.A; LS3.B

Adaptations (various programs)
Choose our general Adaptations program or a topic from the list below:

• Flowers, Poisons and Thorns: The Secret World of Plants
  It’s a jungle out there and plants are not defenseless. Learn the clever strategies that plants use to win, or sometimes lose, the battle for survival.
• Predator and Prey
  Learn how animals big and small find food and avoid being eaten.
• Claws, Paws & Jaws
  Animals have many interesting structural adaptations to help them survive.
• Going, Going, Gone (animal survivals and extinctions)
  Some kinds of plants and animals that once lived on Earth are no longer found anywhere. Why did some animals survive while others disappeared?
• Leader of the Pack
  Learn why some animals find it works better to work as a team.
• Alien Invaders!
  Find out how Invasive plants and animals are changing local habitats and food chains.
• Species-specific programs tailored to your students’ interests (ie. Reptiles, Birds)

Key concepts: Ecosystems, adaptations, life cycle, structures of living things, extinction, animal survival, fossil, camouflage
LS1. A; LS4.B; LS4.C

Living With Nature
Bears, bobcats, beavers, and bats are our neighbors. Learn how we can share our backyards with these and other animals and what we can learn from them.
Key concepts: human impacts, habitat, adaptions, life cycles, interaction, plant and animal observation, observing similarities and differences, biodiversity, natural resources
ESS3.A; ESS3.C; LS4.D

Animal Super Senses
Animals have body parts that capture and convey information needed for their growth and survival. How do animals perceive the world? Discover animals’ super senses and their odd ones, too!
Key concepts: Adaptations, sensory organs, animal structures, senses, information processing, responses to stimuli, structures of body parts, observations, adaptation, electromagnetic spectrum
LS1.A; LS1.D; PS4.B

Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands
Discover how Native Americans relied on their natural environment for all their survival needs including shelter, clothing, and food.
Key concepts: shelter, adaptations, crops, ways humans obtain water and other goods, social studies
LS4.D

Connecticut Rocks!
Every rock tells a story. Some of these stories are exciting and happen very quickly while others happen over a very long period of time. Knowing about Connecticut’s rocks and their stories helps us to understand how Connecticut’s landforms came to be.
Key concepts: geology, earth materials, erosion, catastrophic and gradual change.
ESS1.C; ESS2.B; ESS2.C

Family Matters
Genetics, natural selection, and environment influence plant and animal survival. Selective breeding also can change species traits.
Key concepts: inheritance of traits, variation in traits, natural selection
LS1.B; LS3.A; LS3.B; LS4.B

The Amazing Soil Food Web
Explore the basic concepts of food chains and webs to understand how energy cycles through soils and, in turn, through other ecosystems.
Key concepts: Food webs and chains, energy flow in ecosystems, recycling, decomposers, herbivores, carnivores, producers, consumers, interdependent relationships in ecosystems
PS3.D ; LS1. C; LS2.A; LS2.B

Soil: Earth’s Thinnest Crust
Soil is the connection between the Earth’s geology and its biology. More than sediment, soil is an ecosystem as complex as a forest, savanna, or jungle. Learn how soil is formed and why it is so important to our own survival.
Key concepts: Soil quality, food chain, ecosystems, physical properties of soil, Earth materials, soil types, textures, biodiversity
ESS2.C; ESS3.A; PS3.D; LS1.C

Changing Land, Changing Wildlife
As Connecticut’s ecosystems have changed over time, the state’s wildlife has also changed. Observe, first-hand, how natural phenomena and human activities have impacted animal populations. Tour our Changing Land, Changing Wildlife Exhibits.
Key concepts: Ecosystems, how natural and human activity changes habitats and inhabitants, adaptations, extinction, resources needed by organisms, conservation of resources, biogeology
ESS2.E; ESS3.C; LS2.C; LS4.D

Bedrock to Stone Walls (2 hour program – Spring and Fall only)
Geology, ecology, and human history have combined to create the landscape we see today. This program combines aspects of “Connecticut Rocks” and “Changing Land, Changing Wildlife.”
Key concepts: Ecosystems, properties and classification of earth materials, rocks and minerals, conservation of resources, effects of human activities on habitats
ESS2.A; ESS2.C; ESS2.E

Water Life: Big and Small (Available as a 2 hour program)
Use a variety of tools, including microscopes and hand lenses to discover micro and macro organisms found in local streams and ponds. Discover their adaptations and what makes CT’s aquatic habitats special.
Key concepts: Adaptation, ecosystems, food chain, erosion, aquatic environment, stream formation
LS1. A; LS4.C

Keeping Water Clean
Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on our water resources. Today, individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments. This program uses Enviroscape models demonstrate how to prevent pollution.
Key concepts: why water is essential for life, point and non-point water pollutants, watersheds, how substances dissolve in ground water, natural resources, conservation of resources
ESS3.C

Our Watery World: Earth’s Water Cycle
Examine the hydrologic cycle and learn how water shapes our land, modifies climate, and affects ecosystems.
Key concepts: water cycle, properties of liquids, surface and ground water, erosion, physical and chemical properties of water, river formation
PS1.A; PS1.B; ESS2.A; ESS2.C

Survival Skills (2 hour program – Skills learned are based on season)
Learn basic survival skills including reading a map and compass, fire building, shelter construction, appropriate clothing, and food. Dress for the weather!
Key concepts: Adaptation, conflict with nature, weather, natural hazards
ESS2.A; ESS2.D; ESS3.B; ESS3.C

Insect Chemists
A class where chemistry, physical sciences and the world of insects collide! Get your students excited about ultraviolet colors, chemical reactions, and magnetic fields while exploring the insect world. E
Key Concepts: Light, sound, vibrations, thermal energy, magnetic fields, Structure and function, chemical ecology
PS3.A ; LS1.AP

All Day Ecology Program
Dependent on Classes Selected