Junior Ranger

Explore. Learn. Protect.

The Junior Ranger motto is recited by children around the country; each taking an oath of their own to protect parks, continue to learn about parks, and share their own ranger story with friends and family.

The NPS Junior Ranger program is an activity based program that offers young visitors the opportunity to join the National Park Service "family" as Junior Rangers.

Interested youth complete a series of activities during a park visit, share their answers with a park ranger, and receive an official Junior Ranger patch and Junior Ranger certificate. Junior Rangers are typically between the ages of 5 to 13, although people of all ages can participate.

You must be in the park in order to receive a badge, and we cannot mail Junior Ranger booklets or badges.

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park has a self-guided Junior Ranger program for children 5 and older. The Junior Ranger program shines a light on important events and our roles in helping preserve the places where history happened. The program is a way to introduce children - and those young at heart - to the history found within the park.

 

Become a Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP Junior Ranger!

Becoming a Junior Ranger is a great way for your child to explore national parks. It’s also a great way for the entire family to learn more about Dayton's National Park and about the National Park Service. Visit the park today and join a growing group of kids who are interested in the world around them and involved with their nation's heritage. Upon completion of the required activities in the booklet, each participant can receive a Junior Ranger badge at each location and have an official park ranger sign their certificates of completion.

All future Junior Rangers between the ages of 5-13 should report to the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center. Once you arrive, ask a ranger for a Junior Ranger booklet to start your adventure. Coplete the set amount of activities and then bring the book back to the desk for review. The ranger will check off your answers and then help lead the Junior Ranger pledge. While at Dayton Avation Heritage you can:

• Earn a Junior Ranger badge at the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center.
• Earn Junior Ranger wings at the Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center
• Earn a Junior Ranger badge at the Paul Laurence Dunbar House Historic Site.

Unfortunately, we cannot mail books or badges, but we are working dilligently on developing an at-home Junior Ranger program. As we develop new content and digitize our Junior Ranger books please check back here for more additions.

• Paul Laurence Dunbar House Historic Site Junior Ranger Book. Download here.

• See below for exciting Junior Ranger news from the national program:

 

Become an Eclipse Explorer!

The Eclipse Explorer Junior Ranger program is a partnership between the National Park Service and The Planetary Society. Full of interactive activities, the activity booklet helps kids and the young at heart connect with the science and stories of this awesome astronomical event and understand how to view the eclipse safely.

Earlier this year, Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP was in the path of totality of the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse. For information on the program please visit the Eclipse Explorer Junior Ranger Program webpage. If you would like to pick up an eclipse explorer badge in person, please visit us at the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center. To participate at home download your own Eclipse Explorer Booklet and print your badge today!