Field Trip Program Offerings

What shapes can you find in the clouds? What’s the recipe for the perfect mud pie? Can you paint without a paintbrush? Questions like these and more will be answered in Nature Tots, a sensory-rich exploration of the natural world for children ages 2 to 4 years old and their caregivers. Each session is designed to support early learning with stories, crafts, movement and adventures in nature.

Enjoy a guided tour of the newly renovated Belle Isle Nature Center with Nature Center educators or volunteers. Large habitats throughout the Nature Center feature species of turtles, snakes and amphibians who call Detroit home. Interactive exhibits such as a bird viewing window and an indoor bee hive provide a close encounter with local wildlife. This experience can be added to another program.

Take a trip around the Belle Isle Nature Center with your school’s teachers and chaperones. The Belle Isle Nature Center’s signs and interactive exhibits provide a great guide to explore the Nature Center for students of all ages. This program can be added to another Nature Center program.

Please contact us to book this field trip before arrival so we can greet your class with a warm welcome. We are happy to provide supplemental materials for your visit.

Get ready for an outdoor adventure! The Belle Isle Nature Center provides an introductory hike for learners of all ages to become familiar with local plants and animals. Extend your learning outside the classroom with this exploration of a nature oasis in Detroit. This experience is available year-round if you are dressed for the weather! This program can be modified and given a theme based on student interest and class curriculum.

Have you ever wondered what’s inside an animal’s home? Take a journey outside to observe animal homes and learn how animals change the environment to meet their basic needs. Participants will also design and create their own animal homes using materials found in nature.

Turn over rocks, carefully observe a small patch of grass or see what’s buzzing about as you go on an insect adventure. How many different species will you identify while visiting? Learn the characteristics of a true insect and how they adapt to the seasons.

Nashua Canal travels through a wet woodland populated by beavers, deer and birds. This experience focuses on animal signs and includes a visit to an active beaver lodge along the canal. Students will learn about the adaptations animals use for survival, spot evidence of animal activity and experience a wet woodland ecosystem.

Participants will learn about the importance of pollinators for plants, humans and more! Investigate the Belle Isle Nature Center’s native pollinator garden, examine adaptations of pollinators and flowers and encounter the Belle Isle Nature Center’s honeybees and native bees.

Students will venture outside to nearby bodies of water in search of aquatic animals. Using humane procedures, they will catch and identify the animals they find and then draw conclusions about the health of the ecosystem. This program may get a little muddy!
This program is offered between May and October.

What makes one ecosystem different from another? Using data collection and scientific tools, students will investigate the physical and biological aspects of different areas on Belle Isle and then compare their findings. A guided hike will provide participants with exposure to nearby ecosystems such as wetlands, woodlands and prairies.

Collect data and draw conclusions while learning about the mudpuppy, the Detroit River’s unique aquatic salamander. This field trip is a data collection and analysis experience that utilizes field science procedures the Detroit Zoological Society Amphibian Team uses while studying the Belle Isle mudpuppy population (offered Nov-Feb).