Outreach Programs

Let your senses go “wild” as you explore the world using the senses of a variety of Colorado’s animals. Your body is modified with special gear that lets you sense the environment like an animal. Try using different eyes: eyes on stalks like a crayfish, eyes on the side of your head like a fish, and compound eyes like an insect. Try a set of big ears and see if it helps your hearing. Put your nose to the test in an activity to find food, watch for danger, etc. Good fit with K-2nd grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Our giant plant replica lets kids actively learn all the basic parts and functions of plants from roots to leaves. Kids move water up a giant root system. They will be a stem reaching for sunlight. They will brew up some energy using photosynthesis. Flower parts come to life as kids transform into bees and crawl through giant flowers as pollinators seeking nectar and pollen. This program is a wonderful way to spice up a plant unit. Good fit with K-3rd grade.

1 hour session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Through mini experiments, observation, and touching live animals, kids will learn the difference between amphibians and reptiles. They will also discover adaptations and behaviors of salamanders, toads, frogs, turtles, lizards, and snakes. The class focus is on native species in Colorado. Mini experiments include learning about frog skin, an exercise in “leapers” vs. “hoppers”, and feeding various animals, etc. This is an exciting program for any age group. Good fit with K-3rd grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Kids become young geologists as they identify minerals by hardness and streak tests. Discover the everyday objects that we find minerals in. Marvel at the beauty of geologic samples and some unique things they do. Through physical activities learn how rocks are formed and changed by the environment.  Good fit with K-3rd grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Children will use hands-on activities to learn how the Earth and Moon orbit the sun, lunar phases, and how immense space is. We will also discover why stars shine only at night, why constellations are seasonal, and how earth’s orbit causes seasons. Good fit with 1st grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 25 kids.

2nd – 3rd Grade Program

Forces and Interaction

Ready to give your students strength and direction? We will break out the pendulums and magnets to learn how gravity, friction, and electricity shape our universe. Kids will make measurements, evaluate evidence, and make predictions, but more important, they will make things collide, bounce, shock, and spark! Good fit with 2nd-3rd grades.

1 hour session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Students will experiment with the components of weather (sun, water, wind, and atmosphere) to explore the cause and effect of meteorological changes in Colorado. Physically engaging activity will help kids to investigate pressure, temperature, air movement, and precipitation. We will brew up a thunderstorm complete with hailstones, lightning, and thunder. Be warned: students might find that static electricity is shocking! The kids will create a tornado and a microburst to understand the differences between these common Colorado phenomena. Good fit with K-3rd grades.

1 hour session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Learn about an animal that was closely tied to the plants, animals, and indigenous people of the Great Plains. Create a life-sized bison and try to lift a full bison fur. Touch the hide, feet, skull, rib cage, and tail of a bison as you discover their functions. Discover the history of the name, play bison games, and touch Native American artifacts made from bison. Participants may touch a real bison bladder and watch as it becomes a water canteen. Good fit with 3rd and 4th grades.

One of the favorite optional activities is making a bison bladder canteen. We show a finished one in the artifacts portion of the class, but the kids love to see it being made and then keep it for the classroom. If you’d like to have a bladder canteen made during class please add $6.00 per bladder.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Take a glimpse into the past of one of Colorado’s native people, the Ute. The kids will learn about these indigenous peoples vast knowledge of Colorado’s natural resources. Connections to environment and survival are made as kids use artifacts to try firebuilding, sewing, making rawhide, creating a stone tool, and more. Our instructors are primitive skills experts who have made and used most of these artifacts. Good fit with 3rd – 4th grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 25 kids.

EcoAdventures can also teach kids how to set up a tipi for an extra half hour per group. We facilitate the instruction and the kids set it up. As they are setting it up we also discuss the materials, how and why it is a remarkable shelter, and tipi etiquette. It is an 8′ tipi, so it can be done inside (must have a carpeted floor) or outside. The best part is when the kids go into the tipi!

1.5 hours per session (Ute Program with Tipi) with a maximum of 25 kids.

Touch unique toys and play some ancient games of different Native American people. Kids will learn how natural resources available to each region are reflected in their toys. Through play, they will discover that many of the toys and games also had other benefits. The students will play pokean and try a bull roarer. Good fit with 3rd-4th grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Discover the life cycle of honey bees while observing bees in a real hive. Kids learn about bee society, and try out life as a hive or field bee as they explore this insect’s life cycle. They will physically re-enact the various age related tasks of a honey bee. Through mini experiments and games they will discover adaptations and communication techniques. This is a great hands-on program for the insect life cycle unit. The beehive is not available after the first week of October through March. Spring is weather dependent. This is a great program with or without the bees. Good fit with 1st-3rd grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Students will discover how pioneers gambled their futures when they left the lush fields of Ohio to scrabble in the dry earth for Colorado homesteads. Students will “pull their weight” as they perform experiments to discover how horses made dryland farming possible. We will dress one prospective homesteader in historic clothes so that they can see how pioneers armored themselves in wool and cotton against the brutal Colorado environment. Good fit with 4th grade.

1 hour session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Turn your students into mini-mountain men as they learn how trappers set the stage for Western settlement. Students will examine and touch a table full of artifacts including padre beds, trade awls, beaver hats, and a beaver hide. They will chose which artifacts were needed for day-to-day survival, and dress and equip a student trapper in period clothing for a trip into the mountains. We will then make a fire with flint and steel. Good fit with 4th grade.

1 hour session with a maximum of 30 kids.

*Flintlock firearm and knives available upon request.

Children will live the excitement and uncertainty of the 1859 Colorado Gold Rush! Students will start by evaluating how much money means to them when stacked up against abandoning friends and family. They will discover how easy it is to “go broke” while “making money.” Next, they will learn how gold pans were used to locate gold veins. The students will use an antique drill bit to see how hard it was to drill holes in rock to place dynamite charges. They will play a game that teaches them the lethal hazards that still lurk in Colorado mines. One student will try on historic clothing, and we will handle artifacts that will illuminate the miner’s daily life. They will even hold a real gold nugget! Good fit with 4th grade.

*Note: for an extra $20 per session, students will actively “pan for gold” in a water and sand box, finding a hematite bead that they can take home. EcoAdventures will require assistance to unload and load heavy bins.

Go back to a time when Spanish explorers roamed the land we now call Colorado. Students will learn the Spanish place names for Colorado towns and geographical features, experience how Conquistadors coped with the rigors of Colorado weather, touch historic objects the Spanish traded with Ute and Comanche Indians, hear the legacy of the Caballero horsemen, and dress in Spanish clothing. The children will also take a wild ride on the infamous “Cibolero cart” to see how challenging it was to spear a bison.

Good fit with 4th grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids

*Bullwhip demonstration upon request.

*Flintlock musket available upon request.

Before Colorado could be settled, it had to be mapped. Students will discover the brave new world that was revealed to Dominquez and Escalante, Pike, Long, Abert, Gunnison, and Fremont. Although Native Americans and Fur Trappers had traversed the mountains for years, the explorers made the knowledge available to the masses. Students will handle the instruments used by explorers for cartography, botany, zoology, surgery, and terrestrial navigation.

Good fit with 4th Grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids

Students will discover the first farmers and stone-masons in Colorado. They will learn how archeologists date sites with a hands-on dendrochronology (tree ring dating) experiment, examine the heirloom seeds that they planted in their gardens, the clay pots where they stored their food, and touch the stone tools that shaped their world. Students will even throw a spear with the help of an atl-atl!

Good fit for 3rd – 4th grades.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids

Discover how Europeans migrated to the Great River, and how the mountains, prairies, and parks, shaped its new inhabitants. We will use primary sources and historical artifacts to reveal how the Native Americans, Spanish, and Europeans cooperated and clashed in the land before Colorado.

Good fit for 4th grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids

Get into the Spirit of 1776! Students will compare and contrast the life-ways of Leni-Lenapi (Delaware) farmers, Loyalists craftsmen, and Patriot hunters. This program explores how these people carved a life from the unforgiving land that would become the 13 colonies. Students will marvel at the weight of a canon ball, try on a British Army “Redcoat,” and discover the tax stamp that stirred up patriotic rebellion. They’ll handle heirloom seeds, play with historic toys, and watch a classmate dress up in period clothes. Good fit with 5th grade.

1 hour per session with a maximum of 30 kids

*Flintlock Brown Bess musket available upon request.

Unplug for an hour and discover how children lived and played in the Centennial State! Using games and toys, we’ll learn how Ute children became warriors, pioneer kids honed hand-eye coordination, mining children developed strength, and railroad children gained persistence. This program is hands-on and active.

Our programs are one hour in length per group. We run them from 7:00-8:00 pm and 8:10-9:10 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. $105 per hour, plus mileage per presentation. $25 for Mount Blue Sky; $50 for Windy Peak.

*Save money: hire Pam for Colorado Wildlife and Trey for Historic Toys and Games in Colorado on the same night, same site, pay for mileage for only one speaker.

Good fit with 4th-6th grade. Wonderful for Jeffco 6th grade at Outdoor Lab.

1 hour session with a maximum of 30 kids.

Learn about a variety of Colorado’s wildlife species by matching different animal parts/specimens to build an “entire” animal. Following the “building” of the animals we discuss adaptations and behaviors of the animals represented. Kids get a chance to touch real wildlife specimens in an active activity that inspires them to ask questions about the animals.

Good fit with 4th-6th grade. Wonderful for Jeffco 6th grade at Outdoor Lab.

Our programs are one hour in length per group. We run them from 7:00-8:00 pm and 8:10-9:10 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. $105 per hour, plus mileage per presentation: $25 for Mt. Blue Sky; $50 for Windy Peak.

*Save money: hire Pam for Colorado Wildlife and Trey for Historic Toys and Games in Colorado on the same night, same site, pay for mileage for only one speaker!

1 hour per session.