Programs at the Nature Center

The New Canaan Nature Center provides a wide variety of programming for students, youth, families and adults. Pre-registration is recommended. To register, please call (203) 966-9577. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted

• Each year NCNC delivers over 1,000 school and after-school programs to more than 20,000 school children, ages 2-18, from nearly 20 different communities in Connecticut and New York.
  
  
• LINKS, the Nature Center's largest school program serving over 2,500 students, partners suburban and urban students to experience diversity through its award-winning environmental science curriculum. It is one of the largest and longest-standing Inter-district Cooperative Grant programs in the State of Connecticut and recently received substantial funding of $200,000 from the Connecticut State Department of Education for the 2006-2007 school year.
  
  
• Our nature-focused preschool, the Beginner's Nature Program, is one of the largest in the community and serves over 120 families each year, by providing an unhurried introduction to the joy of learning to 3, 4 and 5 year olds. The professional staff incorporates seasonal themes, daily trail walks and visits with live animals in a curriculum that nurtures each child's social, emotional, creative, physical and cognitive development.
  
  
• 600 children, ages 3-16, can experience nature each summer through the creative, hands-on activities which make up the Nature Center's unique Summer Camp. Older students enjoy many informal environmental experiences off-site either on one-day or week-long adventures to locations like Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, the Adirondacks and Maine.
  
  
• Youth and Family Programs, which include Scout, outreach, and weekend public programs, as well as birthday parties is our fastest growing program area, serving approximately 5,500 children and their families through imaginative nature-based activities.
  
  
• The Nature Center has expanded its reach by offering hikes and school programs to new audiences at The Nature Conservancy's 1746-acre Devil's Den Preserve in Weston Connecticut. NCNC serves as a satellite site for the New York Botanical Gardens horticulture and flower-arranging classes. This cooperative relationship provides close to 300 adults each year with a wide array of first-class programs including NYBG's widely regarded certification classes.