Riverbend Environmental Education Center

This place is amazing.
I’ve been to many, many nature centers in the area, so I was surprised that I had never heard of Riverbend. My friend arranged for us to have an education session last week and it was one of the best I’d ever been to. The group was just us: me and her, her three kids and my one. Our guide, David, is the camp coordinator and general factotum at Riverbend — he was so knowledgeable, friendly, and cheery, the kids loved him. He had pages ready for the kids to color while we all got situated, then he started taking animals out of the tanks for the kids to touch and/​or hold. We enjoyed the company of turtles, a corn snake, a guinea pig, a gecko, a tarantula, and some Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. It was like having Outside In at the Academy of Natural Sciences all to ourselves! Then David took us out for a little scavenger hunt — the kids had so much fun finding bones and fur, looking at tracks, identifying leaves and trees, we even saw bluebirds! It was an incredible day.
The grounds are open daily from dawn to dusk, and the nature center building (a 1923 Sears Catalog barn — how cool!) is open typical business hours. The building houses the Our private tour was $ 20 per child (my friend didn’t have to pay for her youngest, who’s 2), so we ended up with an amazing private class and two hours of David’s time for just $ 60. Let me assure you that we considered it a bargain. We can’t wait to return in the spring!