For Children Articles

Discover the Park – Articles containing information about educational opportunities for youth.

The Apostle Islands School: A Rite of Passage for Chequamegon Bay Youth

The Apostle Islands School: A Rite of Passage for Chequamegon Bay Youth

By Erica Peterson For me, the history of the Apostle Islands School reads like a logbook—full of sketches, personal reflections, images, challenges, and surprising outcomes. It’s stuffed with lesson plans, menus, Ojibwe words, and most importantly, the life changing comments and stories from over five thousand students who spent three special days in the heart of Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.  The Apostle Islands are among the most beautiful places in the world. Lake Superior is a master at carving a landscape, painting a skyscape, adding adventure to any experience, and instilling a...

Badges of honor: Celebrating Junior Rangers

Badges of honor: Celebrating Junior Rangers

Raise your right hand and repeat after the ranger: “I am proud to be a National Park Service Junior Ranger. I promise to appreciate, respect, and protect all national park places. I also promise to continue learning about the landscape, plants, animals, and history of these special places. I will share what I learn with my friends and family.” With that oath, and a completed Junior Ranger booklet, you too can join the millions of people, the young and the young-at-heart, who have become Junior Rangers with the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS Junior Ranger program is an activity-based...

Through a child’s eyes

Through a child’s eyes

The “Most Important Things” book project brings the islands alive through the eyes, and senses, of local fourth graders. When adults gaze out at the Apostle Islands, they may see lighthouses, or a chance for adventure, or the relaxation of miles of sandy beaches to comb. But what does a fourth grader see when she visits the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore? What catches their eyes? What are the most important things in our park to them? A new book, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore: Most Important Things, may just hold the answers. Born out of a collaboration between dedicated fourth...

Through the eyes of 4th graders

Through the eyes of 4th graders

Through the Eyes of Fourth Graders is a book written and illustrated by students about their experiences in the natural environments of the area. This presentation shares that journey, the experiences, lessons and most importantly, the thoughts expressed by young people through words and images. The objectives of environmental education programs are to develop participant awareness, sensitivity and the understanding of their affective relationship to the natural environment, usually through conceptual knowledge and personal experience. Recent, evidence-based studies suggest that experiences...