Description:
Experience the excitement of summer! Watch as the forest matures each week with fulls leaves, flowers, nests, and the stream bursting with life. It is the time for harvesting wild edibles, searching for animal tracks, identifying birds, and relishing the sights and smells of wildflowers and warm summer days.
Step outdoors to explore nature with a senior naturalist/outdoor educator. Take a break from sit-down classes, indoor activities, and screen time to explore the natural world, get fresh air, and exercise. The group will explore the southern section of Sugarland Stream Valley Park in Herndon while they discover all the secrets that woods hold when you stop, look, listen, smell, touch, turn-over, and peek under!
Students will get to know native animals and key types of plants and trees in our area. Students will take hikes and play games in the woods to practice outdoor skills. The class will also discuss outdoor skills such as shelter and outdoor safety. Emphasis will be on becoming comfortable with things they encounter outdoors, observing and appreciating discoveries in nature, safe exploration of the woods, and how to be a good steward of nature.
Visit the Compass Nature Quest class webpage for more information on the program, location, and Frequently Asked Questions. Students should come prepared for class with outdoor/play clothes, closed-toe shoes, sunscreen and/or insect repellent, a hat, and jacket or layered outerwear depending on the weather/temperature. The group exploration/activities in the woods are for enrolled students only, and tag-along parents and siblings cannot be accommodated. Students must be age 6 by the start of the class, and they must be comfortable separating from their parents for the duration of the class.
