Programs

Interested in being a ranger at Wildwood? Get a hands-on taste of what it’s like to be a Wildwood ranger. Learn how to clean, feed, and care for the animals during this fun training session.

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Calling together the Adventure Club – come join Wildwood’s naturalists for weekly outdoor excursions. Explore the prairie looking for creatures big and small, grab a net to find bugs in the long grass or in the water, hike the Des Plaines River trail, and discover nature through experiments, projects, and exploration. The majority of the class takes place outdoors.

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See what creatures roamed the supercontinent Pangea as we explore the Triassic period. Look into the seas to see the giants of the oceans, those swimming reptile cousins of the dinosaurs. Discover the small but mighty dinosaurs who paved the way for their giant descendants as we explore the birth of the reptiles known as dinosaurs! Then on to the Jurassic, to study the towering sauropods and creatures thought to be the ancestor of the modern bird, Archeopteryx, and see how feathers started to evolve. Become a Paleontologist to uncover the imprints of features and scales left behind in our replica fossils. Then it's the Cretaceous: the end of the world as the dinosaurs know it. Discover the famous dino cousins, T. rex and Velociraptor and create a dino dig to keep. Explore the possibilities that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, and simulate their demise with earthquakes, volcanoes and asteroids.

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Dinos might have gone extinct in the Mesozoic, but their relatives are alive and thriving in the Cenozoic. We will explore the reptiles of today as well as birds, the dino descendants. Create a life sized ostrich puppet, dissect owl pellets, meet snakes and lizards as we discover what makes birds and reptiles special.

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The entire family will enjoy the peaceful night air while sitting around a fire listening to stories, singing songs, and making everyone’s favorite - s’mores! Enjoy a night hike around the pond. Flashlights are not needed, but feel free to bring a blanket or chair to sit on. Fee is per family (register one family member).

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