The Ashokan Center offers quality programs to students of all ages. We offer day trips and 1-4 night overnights. Ashokan is a place to learn about nature, history, science, and the arts. We strive to be on the forefront of environmental education by connecting our classes with the Next Generation Science Standards and the New York State Common Core. We offer classes in natural science, including watershed studies, living history and adventure education.

Contact: Education Director

Website: www.ashokancenter.org

Phone: 845.657.8333 Ext. 27

Throughout the school year and over the summer, Cary Institute educators provide opportunities for students and teachers to learn more about current science through hands-on, inquiry-based investigations curated to the needs of our participants. We also engage Cary Institute scientists in all of our education programs, which provide participants with access to cutting-edge science content.

For students: during the school year we offer field trips and school visits led by experienced Cary Institute educators. We also coordinate the Hudson Data Jam Competition in the spring of each year. In the summer, we run ecology-themed day camps for students in Grades 2-12.

For teachers: Cary Institute educators offer opportunities throughout the year to learn more about techniques for engaging their students in scientific inquiry and ways to incorporate models of research-proven teaching methods into their classrooms. Whether for an entire week or just an afternoon, we model effective teaching practices in all of our professional development programs.

Contact: Shelly Forster

Website: www.caryinstitute.org

Phone: 845.677.7600 x303

In the high peaks of the Catskills, Frost Valley has been providing extraordinary natural experiences for children for over fifty years. Our location on 6,000 acres in the heart of the Catskill Forest Preserve is unmatched by any educational learning center in the country. Our enthusiastic outdoor environmental educators come to Frost Valley from all over the U.S. and the world to create a truly memorable experience for your students. We work closely with teachers to build a unique program for their students from our famous class offerings that blend time outdoors with learning. Frost Valley provides day and overnight residential programs for K-12 students which focus on direct engagement with the curriculum. Students will get a true hands-on educational experience.

Contact: Brett Tillman, Director of School Programs

Website: www.frostvalley.org

Phone: 845.985.2291

BIG AIR BMX Show featuring some of the World's Top BMX Athletes who deliver an unforgettable 40-minute high-energy assembly, complete with a powerful youth message titled the "5 Secrets to Sucess." Message includes Anti-Drug, Motivational, Goals and Dreams, Respect Others (Anti-Bullying) and Stay in School.

Contact: Schedule a Tour

Website: www.gogreenbmx.com

Phone: 949.415.9534

Historic Huguenot Street offers a variety of school programs across all ages and grade levels. The site encompasses seven original Huguenot stone houses, a reconstructed French church, and an authentic replica Native American wigwam. Each school program consists of a stone house and/or wigwam tour as well as one or more hands-on activities. The following school programs are offered for the different age groups that visit: A Little History (PreK-1), Colonial Kids (Grades 1- 3), Learning & Leisure (Grades 4-6), Life & Death in the 1700s (Grades 7-12), and Qui Voyez-Vous? French Portrait Program (Grades 7-12).

Contact: Jennifer Bruntil

Website: www.huguenotstreet.org

Phone: 845.255.1660

Enjoy the experience of a traditional cave tour, descending 156 feet below the earth’s surface to explore six million-year-old caves. Your 90 minute journey begins in Lester Howe’s above-ground study where Howe himself will regale you with the story of how he discovered this great cave system. Your experienced tour guide will then lead you down in an elevator to the vestibule where your journey continues. Travel through the enormous main cavern, into immense galleries, and under huge boulders which hang precariously overhead. You will experience the mystique of the River Styx, the wonders of Titan’s Temple and The Giant Formation on your journey. The tour consists of a 1.25 mile walk with a quarter mile boat ride on our underground lake.

Contact: April Islip

Website: www.howecaverns.com

Phone: 518.296.8900

Indigenous History Cruise and Talk with Justin Wexler of Wild Hudson Valley, hosted at the Hudson River Maritime Museum For countless generations, Algonquian-speaking peoples relied on the Hudson River and its tributaries for their survival.

Come aboard the Solaris, a 100% solar-powered vessel, to learn about indigenous lifeways and history on the Hudson River over the centuries. Discuss classroom applications and collaborate with others in our follow up session on Zoom.

This program will help Hudson Valley educators understand who the native peoples of the Hudson Valley are, their historic lifeways before colonization, the complex history of the last three centuries, and where their contemporary communities are today.

Contact: Erin Boss, Education Program Manager

Website: www.hrmm.org and www.wildhudsonvalley.com

Phone: 845.338.0071

Clearwater offers many ways to interact with the Hudson River. Our “Classroom of the Waves” takes place on an historic replica of sailboats from the 19th century—the famed Hudson River Sloops. We also offer field trips on the banks of the river and visits to your classroom. Our program encompasses all learn- ing styles through hand-on experiential learning. Students will evaluate the health of the river with first-hand interactions with the living environment as they catch, identify, and classify fish and invertebrates. They will predict the future of the river by looking at its historic uses and its role as the birthplace of the modern environmental movement. Students will connect the ecology and environmental challenges to their own lives. They will realize the river belongs to them.

Contact: Maija Niemesto

Website: www.clearwater.org

Phone: 845.265.8080 x7115

Land to Learn’s SproutEd program brings garden-based education to 2,000 K-2 students in 10 public elementary schools throughout New York’s Hudson Valley region. We build school vegetable gardens and teach lessons during the school day, year-round, that educate students in nutrition, cooking, plant science, ecology, and food systems. Our curriculum is experiential and hands-on, offering students a fun, engaging way to apply and develop their academic and social emotional skills. Our experienced school garden program managers also work with school food service departments to bring fresh vegetables into cafeterias, and collaborate with other school community partners to support health and wellness initiatives in schools. 

The broad-scope goals of the SproutEd program are to increase health and wellness in the communities served and to connect kids to their natural environment. Our curriculum begins in kindergarten with scaffolded lessons throughout each year, to the completion of 2nd grade. Our lessons cover standards in science, and offer students practice with applying literacy, math, and art skills, as well as facilitated opportunities to develop their social emotional skills.

Contact: Nicole Porto

Website: https://landtolearn.org

Phone: 845-765-8899

Extend learning with a visit to nature’s classroom. School tours are offered April-October. Kelder’s family farm is a wonderful place for your students to see the wonders of nature. Our school tours are educational and fun, extending the school curriculum, including the common core, with hands-on activities. We provide students with a well-rounded look at a family farm, CSA, and fruit and vegetable farm. We tailor each tour so that activities are age appropriate and relate to recent topics of study in school. A day on the farm is fun for children of all ages, even chaperones and teachers! A visit to our bicentennial family farm is a great way to begin or end the school year, as tours can be scheduled during the spring months of April through June or during the fall months of September and October. Activities and produce vary with the season. During the spring and fall, children can milk a cow, take a hayride, feed our animals in the barnyard petting zoo, get exercise on our jumping pillow, play mini golf through our edible gar- dens, pick their own strawberries during the month of June or pick their own pumpkins, apples, or raspberries in September and October.

Contact: Christopher Kelder

Website

Phone: 845.626.7137

We offer farm-based education opportunities for all age groups by providing the opportunity for students to experience first hand how food grows. At the Kingston YMCA Farm Project, students are involved in meaningful hands-on seasonal experiences in seeding, transplanting, watering, harvesting and other garden- related tasks. Students will have the opportunity to smell, touch, and taste different herbs and plants, depending on the season. We can customize your experience to a specific curricular topic or provide a generalized farm-based experience.

Contact: KayCeeWimbish or Susan Hereth

Website: kingstonymcafarmproject.org

Phone: 845.332.2927

Students have the opportunity to learn by asking questions, observing demonstrations, completing fun science experiments, and building take-home projects. Each workshop is 45-90 minutes long, depending on the topic and the time available. There are over 100 individual workshop topics to chose from. Environmental workshop topics include Acids & Bases (acid rain), Mineral Mania (geology), Ecosystem Explorations, Photosynthesis, Wacky Water, and Walloping Weather.

Contact: Jane Vero or Brian Crandall

Website: midhudson.MadScience.org

Phone: 845.294.5434

The education department at Minnewaska offers numerous education programs for all ages. Our programs are available year-round and feature hands-on activities, walks, games, and guided learning. Please see our brochure for further descriptions.

Contact: Laura Conner, Environmental Educator

Website: https://parks.ny.gov/parks/127/details.aspx

Phone: 845.255.0752

The Mohonk Preserve has been providing innovative education programs in partnership with area school districts for over three decades. All programs are aligned with New York State learning, Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards, and most address the Health, Physical Education, and Family and Consumer Science standards as well.

Three levels of programs are available and all are led by experienced professional educators: K-6 Field Studies provide environmental education outdoors at the Mohonk Preserve in the Fall and Spring. Grade 6-12 guided STEM Field Investigations require two field visits (4 hours each) to examine real-world challenges and conduct biological surveys, gather and analyze data, and design solutions. In-school programs (K-12): Offered from November-April, Pond Keepers, Hudson Valley Climate and Species Change, Hands-On Archaeology, and Creatures Alive.

Contact: Kim Tischler, Education Coordinator for Student Programs

Website: www.mohonkpreserve.org

Phone: 845.255.0919

Located in Kingston, NY, Seed Song Farm & Center provides in-school and on-site educational programs surrounding sustainable, no-chemical, community agriculture that promote science learning and cultural understanding.

• PUMPKING PICKING - School groups come to Seed Song Farm & Center and enjoy pumpkin picking, hayrides, and field mazes!

• MAPLE SUGARING PROJECT - Students learn the science of this interdisciplinary sustainable farming activity by identifying and tapping a tree, collecting sap, and cooking it into a sweet maple treat. Schools choose from a menu of supplementary ecology, biology, chemistry, Native American culture, and cooking activities. JANUARY - APRIL

• SEEDS, SEEDLINGS & SAPLINGS - Participate in the science and wonder of growing vegetables, flowers and trees from seeds. Learn ancient and modern sustainable agricultural techniques! MARCH - SEPTEMBER

• EARLY SUSTAINABLE FARMING IN THE HUDSON VALLEY - Students explore Native American lifeways with a member of Neetopk Keetopk, local indigenous people who educate the public about traditional wisdom as solutions to modern problems. MAY - NOVEMBER

Contact: Chris “Creek” Iversen

Website: https://www.seedsongfarm.org/

Phone: 845.902.8154

Offering full-day nature immersion field trips, in-school guided recess, and after school programs, Wild Earth programs are designed to provide social and emotional support with engaging and caring adult mentors using activities and experiences that promote character building and community development.

Experiential, hands-on, and tons of fun, at Wild Earth students build character, confidence, passion, and perseverance. All of the senses are engaged as participants learn ancient skills such as fire-making with friction, wildlife tracking, wilderness crafts, and natural shelter building.

Wild Earth’s philosophy is unique from other experiential education pro- grams in that we prioritize building connections over acquiring information. Utilizing core routines that inspire youth enthusiasm for learning in creative and invisible ways, our programs build students’ character and confidence, social and emotional well-being, and cultivate an orientation toward leadership and service.

Contact: David Brownstein, Executive Director

Website: https://wildearth.org

Phone: 845.256.9830