Inspired Folks Found McGlone's Family Nature Night

On a Wednesday evening after school, McGlone Academy filled with positive partners and interested families. All who attended Family Nature Night found a booth or activity that inspired involvement with the outdoors. Let’s remember some of the activities offered!

Kids and teachers spun the trivia wheel for a wildlife category. They answered Jessica’s challenging questions for tiny prizes!

At a booth with Environmental Learning for Kids, families could feel inside mystery boxes and guess to what animals the feet belonged! Taylor and Justin brought smiles and awe to the faces of children with their clues and excitement.

At Rocky Mountain Arsenal’s booth, kids watched their token cascade down the board for a category. Julia and David asked neat questions about black-footed ferrets, bison, and other wildlife at the Arsenal. After picking a prize, kids could feel furs, antlers, and shells of native animals!

Morrison Nature Center had an awesome display on spiders in Colorado. They even had a venomous spider—a black widow! Do you remember looking into her enclosure and spotting the red hourglass on her abdomen? Liz also had some funny cards to hand out about what happens if people feed wildlife.

Angel with History Colorado had a Colorado flag backdrop to take pictures with Colorado state props. He led games of bingo with historical clues, and three in a row earned a temporary tattoo!

Kelsey watched kids jump as far as Colorado wildlife! Could you leap as far as a mountain lion, or maybe only as far as the jumping mouse? Families could also take a look at tracks, guess which animals have those feet, and press them into kinetic sand.

National Park Service offered an amazing opportunity to get fourth graders into National Parks for free! Every Kid in a Park is an initiative that benefits cars full of adventurous families who want to explore national parks. Families found fantastic mammal skins to touch here.

Did you bring home a Smokey the Bear bookmark or a National Forest sticker? Then you probably picked it up at U.S. Forest Service’s booth after spinning the prize wheel. Many kids talked about camping and being outside here.

Jennifer, with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, helped kids spot birds on a far wall. Youth told her about the colors around the eye, on the chest, or on the tail, then matched those features to a name! What a fun way to use binoculars indoors!

In the gym, kids tried casting fishing lures to catch colorful fish! Although it was a game out of water, Liz and Vicki inspired many new fishers to improve.

Twang, zip, thunk! Did you sink any arrows into the targets? With Shalana’s and Emily’s help, young and adult archers used a bow for the first time ever! Some had shot arrows before. Whether beginning or practicing, archery was a hit with many participants.

Families grouped up in the cafeteria, and kids started to huddle close to the prize table for our raffle drawing! Winning tickets won amazing prizes to get kids outdoors! Teachers congratulated and cheered for their students.