What a day: filled with laughter, learning, and fun in the sun!

At our first-ever Crayons & Paint last Saturday, local kids and their families joined us on the land at Karen’s Preserve to explore and learn about the world around us.

They had a great time getting creative in nature – learning how to identify animal tracks, noticing details in their surroundings that tell us clues about local wildlife, and letting nature inspire their art.

Exploring the great outdoors is a perfect time to let loose and embrace your wild side and these families had a blast doing just that!

Indigo Johnson, our Education Coordinator and AmeriCorps Member, brought this event to life. And what a rewarding day it turned out to be.

“I swiveled my head around the sagebrush meadow of Karen’s Preserve and spotted all the kids clustered together, head-down, looking intently at the dirt,” she remembers. “Not only had they paid attention during my lesson, but now they were out there all on their own, looking for tracks!

“At that moment, I knew that bringing these kids to the Preserve was the right thing to do. It’s so rewarding to see these girls and boys light up with excitement as they discover new and wonderful things in nature.”

Our thanks go to volunteers Edie Warkentine and Lynn Peterson, who helped make Crayons & Paint a success, and to Amy Leist for capturing the magic of the day on camera. And thanks also to everyone who joined us and made the day so fun. Watching these kids, their parents, and their grandparents all together, finding inspiration and joy in nature, was a truly special experience. We can’t wait to do it again next year. Hope to see you there!

Crayons & Paint was made possible thanks to generous funding provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s “Connecting People with Nature” grant.