Junior Rangers at Richardson's Grove

Maddie and Max loved attending the Junior Ranger meetings at the Lodge. The first class was on Banana Slugs. Max was picked to become the slug. He was so cute and such a good helper.

Here is Madeline making Banana Slug Slime.

The kids received their Junior Ranger books, stickers, and badges after their meeting.

The next day they explored textures with nature art.

Junior Rangers at Richardson's Grove is a bit different than the national program. You have to attend ten different Junior Ranger meetings, where you do activities and learn about a certain nature subject. After every meeting, the ranger will stamp your book. After the first meeting, you receive a Junior Ranger badge. Every time you come you earn a different prize, like stickers,pins, posters, etc. After attending ten programs, you earn your Sabertooth Tiger Patch.

My sisters and I came back year after year to Richardson's Grove eager to earn what we called the "Cougar Patch." It was a big deal to earn it. It was presented to us at a Campfire and we were really proud of them. I still have mine! Maddie and Max are about half-way to finishing the program. If we get to come back next year, I am sure they will get their "Cougar Patches."

I did not bring my camera to their favorite class. It was on worms and composting. The Ranger brought her compost worms and let the kids observe a few on wet paper towels in front of them. They had spray bottles to keep the worms hydrated. They set up obstacle courses for them. It was a lot of fun.