Field Trip Programs
Attention Teachers!

More than 400 groups of area school children and scouts come to the Tenafly Nature Center each year. With their boundless curiosity, they touch, observe and listen to the natural world.

This year you can join our TNC professional environmental educators as they lead your students in an exploration of the wonders of the natural world. Hands-on learning and close observations in a 380-acre living museum bring classroom concepts to life.

Programs are designed for students ages 3 through Adults. 

Field Trip Programs
(Programs that are held here at TNC)
Offered during business hours Tuesday through Sunday.

We can design programs to reinforce your curriculum.

If a subject of interest to you does not appear below, please contact the Education Director
for more information!

The programs listed here are designed to be taught on-site at TNC, however we can bring some of these programs to your school or another location. For more information regarding Outreach programs, please click here.

Pre-school and Kindergarten Programs
(45 min.-1 hour)
Titles in Red can be done as Outreach

Creature Double Feature: Students use their senses to meet live animals. They will discover how they are different and similar to these creatures. Focusing on how each species adapts to survive in its environment (what it eats, what covers its body, etc.), helps children gain a respect for and decrease their fears of several animal species.

Leaf Shapes: Students get an up-close look at all the colors and patterns nature has to offer.  We’ll review an assortment of leaf shapes and discover ways to identify some of NJ’s common trees, during a walk through the woods.

Sensible Senses: The call of a bird, the scent of a tree, and the texture of bark are all ways to identify plants and animals. Students learn  these and other techniques to improve their sensory observation skills and to use them to identify natural organisms. After learning how our fellow animals use their senses to survive, we’ll investigate how we can apply their sensual  adaptations to enrich our own lives.

Sleep, Stay, Run Away: Students learn how animals know winter is on the way and how they prepare for it, Students will investigate winter strategies with hands-on activities, artifacts, and LIVE animal observations. Discussions include adaptations, hibernation, migration and animal behavior. Extended programs include a look at animal tracking.

What is a Tree? Through role-playing, songs, games and a journey into our woods, your class will discover the inner workings of a tree and the physical characteristics that define some of the common species found here in NJ. Students learn how animals and humans alike use the different parts of a tree, and who here at the Nature Center calls a tree home. 

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Kindergarten– 12^th Grade Programs
Titles in Red can be done as Outreach

Apple Cider Making (if transportation is available)
Age recommended: K - 12^th
Time: 1 - 1.5 hours
Students investigate simple machines and the differences in plant parts, as they use an old-fashioned screw press to make and sample fresh apple cider. In the process, they learn about the history of the cider making from colonial times to the present. 

Groups must bring 3-5 apples per participant.

 Bird is the Word
Age recommended: K - 12^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Students learn what makes a bird unlike any other animal. Through activities and games, classes will learn what attributes birds share with other animals and which adaptations set them apart from the various avian species. Students will see and touch artifacts before they go outdoors to search for our resident species. A few binoculars are available. Extended programs include an in-depth look at how and why birds have developed different beak shapes. The program concludes with an up-close visit with a LIVE bird.

Endangered NJ
Age recommended: 3^rd - 12^th
Time: 1.5 - 2 hours
Learn about the many factors that threaten animals with endangerment or extinction worldwide. Students will use artifacts and LIVE animals to learn how to distinguish between these classifications. Activities are designed to help students understand a little more about NJ’s over 60 endangered species, and learn how they can help prevent the threats to local wildlife. 

Forest Ecology
Age recommended: 1^st - 12^th
Time: 1 - 3 hours
Students explore the local forest to learn about the ecology of the plants and animals that live there. Learning to deduce the history of a woodland by “reading the landscape”, students uncover some of the differences between deciduous and coniferous forests by field-testing forest plots, studying the flora and fauna, and making field observations. Extended programs can include topics such as succession and stratification, plant life cycles, classification and tree identification using a dichotomous key. Students will discover the cultural and natural history of plants, particularly trees, as we examine a tree’s life  stages, following it’s growth from seed to maturity, finally, to decomposition.  

Geology of the Palisades
Age recommended: 3^rd - 12^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Students will discover how the Palisades were formed, where it’s rocks and fossils come from, and what they can tell us. Students will learn to identify some household products that come from rocks and minerals, and will practice identifying common NJ rocks.  We will discuss examples of erosion and deposition caused by the forces of nature and will reinforce concepts of glaciations, soil formation and landforms.

Group Challenges
Age recommended: 3^rd - 12^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Through problem-solving challenges and group work, this program will help your class recognize their strengths and practice their listening skills. Using both their physical and mental abilities, students will learn how to communicate effectively with each other and cultivate cooperative skills.

Have to Have a Habitat (if schoolyard space available)
Age recommended: K - 6^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Students discover what animals, plants, and people need to survive and what makes a habitat a “home”. Venturing into the forest, your class will investigate wildlife homes and diets, and learn to identify signs of various species and how an assortment of factors control wildlife populations.

Heavenly Herps
Age recommended: 1^st - 12^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
“Herps” (reptiles and amphibians) are among the most under-appreciated and misunderstood species of the animal world. This program will introduce students to live snakes, frogs, salamanders and turtles and highlight the characteristics which distinguish between reptiles and amphibians.

Insect Safari
Age recommended: K - 12^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Students examine Live insects in an introduction to the vast array of insect life.  They will be taught where to find insects outside and how to identify them. By observing life stages and adaptations, students will learn to identify different insects in a variety of aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Extended programs include such topics as how people depend on insects and how our attempts to control insect populations affect the environment.

It’s a Spore World
Age recommended: 3^rd  - 6^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Students learn why algae, lichen, moss, and fungi are important as they explore the differences between flowering plants and non-flowering organisms. Your class will explore how these non-flowering, plant-like organisms reproduce, discover their roles in succession and decomposition  and investigate examples of symbiotic relationships.

Lenni-Lenape
Age recommended: 2^nd - 6^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Students learn how early Native Americans utilized the natural resources in New Jersey. Your group will journey into the past, listening to a Lenape story, learning to play classic Lenape games of skill, examing wild edibles and  medicines, and learning how Lenapes used the animals they hunted.

Map & Compass
Age recommended: 3^rd - 12^th
Time: 1.5 - 4 hours
Students learn the different parts of a compass,  and how to use it to locate directions. Classes will apply this knowledge outdoors on the trails. Extended program includes instruction in orienteering, map reading different kinds of maps and wayfinding techniques. After each program, students will use their map-reading skills to follow  pre-set courses to find  "natural treasures" hidden outdoors.

Maple Sugaring
Age recommended: K - 12^th
Time: 1 hour
Students learn about the history of maple sugaring in North America by observing a TNC educator tap our Sugar Maple trees. (We encourage sap tasting, if enough has been collected.)  We demonstrate both Native American and colonial syrup-making techniques outdoors. We challenge students to try to distinguish between corn syrup and  “real thing”, 100% maple syrup, by taste alone.

(Offered in late February through early March)

Oogling Owls
Age recommended: K - 12^th
Time: 1 - 1.5 hours
Students learn how these nocturnal raptors have adapted to night flight, as they observe our LIVE resident owl. Your class will learn about NJ’s owls’ status by discussing the pros and cons of human interactions with these powerful and efficient predators.

Outdoor Survival
Age recommended: 3^rd - 12^th
Time: 1.5 - 2 hours
If your students were lost in the woods, would they know what to do? We will teach them to prepare for survival outdoors, using  the “rules of three”.  Students will have to cooperate and exercise group skills to construct a survival shelter. Extended programs include instruction and practice in applying map and compass skills and a demonstration of how to set and start a campfire.

Pond Ecology
Age recommended: K - 12^th
Time: 1 - 3 hours
Using a variety of tools (dip nets, magnifiers, etc.) students will discover aquatic ecosystems and food chains participating in hands-on pond exploration. They will study diversity, adaptations and interrelationships among the organisms they find in the water, and will discuss how human activity impacts aquatic habitats. Extended programs include water testing and a comparison of different kinds of  freshwater habitats.

Rapp’n with Raptors
Age recommended: K - 12^th
Time: 1 - 1.5 hours
Students will observe several live raptors up close and learn about their behavior, physiology, adaptations, ecological importance and natural history. Hands-on artifacts and demonstrations will capture the imagination of young and old.

Seasonal Discovery
Age recommended: K - 12^th
Time: 1 - 3 hours
Students will explore the wonders each season brings to the forest. On a walk along the trails, your class will learn to observe and record temperature, weather, and wind speed. They will learn how each of these measurements, as well as plants and animals, respond to seasonal changes! Your students can bring this knowledge back to the classroom to make their own observations!

Seed Dispersal
Age recommended: 3^rd  - 6^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Classes learn to identify and explain the function of different plant parts. Students will discover why plants put energy into producing flowers and seeds. Students explore the reasons  plants send seeds on a long journey, and the different mechanisms such as “hitchhiking” and “parachuting” seeds use to travel.

Snakes of New Jersey
Age recommended: 3^rd  - 12^th
Time: 1.5 - 2 hours
Students discover the differences between snakes and other species as they learn about the 21 species of snakes that reside in NJ. An interactive slide presentation emphasizes the importance of these legless reptiles by identifying and exploring their adaptations. Artifacts and up-close encounters with several LIVE snakes make this a memorable educational experience.

Soil Ecology
Age recommended: 1^st- 6^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Students discover that dirt is an important part of our natural life as they “dig-in” to an in-depth study of soil. Your class will delve into the world of the earth’s top-most layer and learn to identify the components of soil. Using samples from the Nature Center, students will compare different types of dirt and discover that soil is a habitat that supports many forms of life. Extended programs include soil testing (texture, pH, nitrogen, etc.) and investigation of nutrient recycling by examining the forest floor for evidence of decomposition.

Water, Water Everywhere
Age recommended: 1^st - 12^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Students help perform demonstrations, experiments and activities as your class is introduced to water molecules and the concepts of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, transpiration, freezing, surface tension.  They will learn how plants and animals recycle water and how some animals live in and on the water. During a guided hike along the Nature Center trails students will play a game are designed to help explain how water is vital to all life forms. Extended programs include such topics as wetlands classification, the importance of a watershed and all of the factors that contribute to it, and discussion of such words such as “topography”, “nitrogen”, and “phosphorus”.

Weather or Not
Age recommended: 1^st - 6^th
Time: 1 - 2 hours
Students learn how sun, air, land, and water each play a role in determining our weather, and how these elements can be used to  predict weather patterns. Through demonstrations and experiments, your class will learn how to use several basic instruments to measure and hypothesize future weather patterns.  Students will measure differences in air pressure, prove that air has weight, and investigate how and why weather changes.

Web of Life
Age recommended: 2^nd - 6^th
Time: 1 - 1.5 hours
Students will discover how energy flows from the sun through the food web. They will search for living examples of producers, consumers and decomposers in a variety of habitats.  Your class will discuss the concept of food chains, population dynamics, adaptation and change. Activities include games to highlight predator and prey relationships and an interpretive hike. Extended programs can include comparison of herbivores, carnivores and omnivores by examining different skulls and sets of teeth. 

Wildflower/Plant Walk
Age recommended: 4^th - 12^th
Time: 1 - 1.5 hours
During a walk, students draw plants, learn to distinguish between seed and non-seed plants, and learn the value of plants as living things that interconnect with other organisms.

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Scheduling and Field Trip Information
Schedule Early!

Spring and Fall time slots fill months in advance, but we're open all year.
Call 201-568-6093 to schedule a field trip this year.

• For faster scheduling have several date and time options ready when you call.

• Your message should include your name, phone number, group age and number of students, the name of the program, several possible dates, and the preferred times.

• If a day/date time slot is already booked, a waiting list is kept.

To discuss programs and possible dates, call the Education Director at (201) 568-6093 or email her a program request form by clicking here she will contact you as soon as possible.

Most programs are held entirely outdoors and are given regardless of the weather, with some exceptions. Students should dress accordingly.

Preparation for your visit

• TNC programs are held mostly outdoors

• Please ask students to dress accordingly as they may be standing or sitting outdoors for most of the program.

• Please remind students to dress in layers.

In winter, students should dress more warmly than for outdoor play. In warmer weather, we recommend light-colored, long-sleeved shirts and pants as protection against plants and insects. Trails are rocky and seasonally muddy. Students should wear sturdy shoes or boots and rain gear when applicable.

Picnic Area

Under our covered pavilion TNC has several picnic tables available. If you would like to have lunch here discuss it with the Education Director. Please bring trash bags and remind your students to bring reusable lunch containers. When you leave please take your trash with you.

Museum

You can schedule time for your group to explore the natural history exhibits and displays in the visitor center.

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Field Trip Fees

 There is no charge for teachers and aides.
 If your funds are limited inquire about reduced rates.
We strive to make nature accessible to all.
Most programs are held entirely outdoors and are given regardless of the weather, except for downpours or blizzards. Students should dress accordingly.

Pre-payment:

Pre-payment is required for ALL programs. When you schedule a program, a time slot will be reserved for you. Payment must be received within 2 weeks, or the reservation will be cancelled. If you schedule a program within that 2 week period, pre-payment is due three days prior to the program.

Group Size for Programs at TNC

TNC makes every effort to keep groups small, to optimize individual students’ participation. A maximum of 60 students can be accommodated at TNC at one time. Larger groups can be divided between morning and afternoon or programs can be scheduled over several days.

• Pre-K & Kindergarten: Classes larger than 20 students will be charged $4.00 per additional student. 
• 1st - 12th grade: Classes larger than 25 students will be charged $4.00 per additional student.

Reschedule, Cancel & Refund Information

• Most TNC programs are held outdoors and are given regardless of the weather, except for downpours or blizzards.

• If you group must reschedule, you will be responsible for a $50 Rescheduling fee.

• If your group must cancel, refunds are based on how far in advance cancellation is from schedule date.

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