On this interactive tour for younger visitors and their families, join a member of the Crane’s household staff to explore what made this a relaxing home. Peak into some of their private rooms and discover the family cat’s favorite hiding places!
Come to Spencer Peirce Little Farm for a mid-winter open house and bonfire to celebrate the official purchase of the town of Newbury on January 13, 1701. As part of this community-wide event, tour the Spencer-Pierce-Little House, enjoy hot cider and donuts for sale in the visitor center, and then walk to the nearby town-sponsored bonfire fueled by Christmas trees in the growing fields of Tendercrop Farm!
Kick off your holiday season with The Trustees of Reservations! Tour the Great House at the Crane Estate beautifully decorated for Christmas. Get into the holiday spirit with Christmas at Castle Hill. Don't miss this year's spectacular "The Season of Carols". Each room in our 1920s mansion is festively decorated for a beloved Christmas carol. You'll find live music and dance, fresh baked cookies and cider, a treasure hunt, family activities, and a visit with Santa.
It's time for backyard birds to head south for the winter. Joppa Flats Education Center want to give them a proper send-off with a fun, free family event that features bird banding demonstrations, interactive games about bird migration, and lots of table-top science including bird-call recall, bird identification, shorebird feeding challenges, and a mystery bird nest challenge!
Nature's riches abound during this festive time of year. Sample delicious homemade treats made with local beach plums and cranberries. Inhale the aroma of white pine tea or a bayberry candle. Boldly bite into a seaweed salad or nibble on some pickleweed.
It's nice to have GPS, but do you know how to read a map or use a compass? What happens if you're out on the trail and your GPS malfunctions or the batteries die? Are you instantly lost? Bring your compass (or use one of ours) and learn to find north, orient yourself, count paces, and use the map and compass to find your way. After some basics, we'll hit the trails and use the new skills learned to search for some hidden natural treasures. No experience necessary. This program is a good introduction to orienteering for the whole family.
Come to Spencer Peirce Little Farm for a program for homeschool families. Whether attending the morning or afternoon session, families are invited to have lunch at the property. Students become archaeologists as they excavate a mock pit with actual tools of the trade and process (put together) reproduction artifacts in a field lab. Inside the museum, they explore building archaeology via trap doors. They analyze objects to learn about daily life at the farm over the last three hundred years.
Story Walk is a self-guided walk featuring children's books that allow you and your child to walk the trail and use all your senses to connect to the outdoors while enjoying the magic of reading together. Foster your child's literacy skills while connecting with nature and each other! Story Walk featured at Ravenswood's Children's Trail will focus on Spring and will be set up on the trail from Saturday, April 16 through Sunday, May 1.
Get into the Halloween spirit! Examine live creepy crawlies, enjoy (semi) spooky attractions, and take home creative crafts. For ages 7 and up, explore a “crime scene” and perform a series of forensic investigations (e.g., soil sample comparisons, water sampling, chromatography, pH tests, and track identification) to solve the mystery and pinpoint the culprit. For ages 2 to 6, there will be stories and songs, silly and festive crafts, and a kooky treasure hunt. Family presentations will be offered at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. Fly in on your broom for an hour or stay all day for some fun pre-Halloween family time!
Looking for something fun to do with the kids during school vacation? Join The Trustees of Reservations at the Hamlin Reservation on a treasure hunt and hike. Kids will search for natural treasure (and some man-made as well!) as they walk through the gently rolling fields of this former farmland, then over a dike path that leads to a loop trail around Eagle Island in the marshes of Ipswich. Bring your sharpest skills of observation and a bag to collect your treasures!
