Summer Youth Programs

Summer Explorers

June 20 - August 8, 2024

  • Thursdays for eight weeks
  • 10:00 am - 12:00 PM for elementary participants

  • 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM for middle and high school participants
  • Join the FREE fun!
Registration is required
To register for sessions or for more information please call Julie Croglio at 406-846-2070 ext. 226 or email.

 
Summer Explorers learning about art
Summer Explorers learn about native art.

NPS Photo/Bruce Wright

Elementary Program Sessions

(10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.)

June 20 – FEathered Friends

Get to know amazing birds that call the ranch home. Learn methods they use to communicate and how to identify a bird through its color, size, and song. (Limited to the first 48 participants).

June 27 – Nature's Paint Pallet

Experience an artistic adventure. Using paint swatches, we will find some of nature’s amazing colors and use them to create a masterpiece!

July 4 – Navigating the World Around Us

Discover how cowboys navigated their way on the open range. By creating and using compasses we will find our way through the open range back home.

July 11 – Where Has the Water Been

Water goes so many places before it come to us. Let’s explore the places water goes as we craft water tables and go on a scavenger hunt to see where it ends up here at Grant-Kohrs Ranch.

July 18 – Frozen In Time

A Photograph preserves a memorable moment but it can also tell a story. Learn how pictures can capture a scenic, historic, or personal moment forever and explore the ranch using images from the past.

July 25 – Farm to Table

Have you ever wondered where your dinner came from? Spend a few hours learning the important role of a ranch in the food supply and how growing grass, stacking hay, and caring for livestock produces healthy food year-round.

August 1 – Choose Your Adventure

It took lots of hard work and dedication from many people to make the ranch a success. Learn the history of ranching during the Open Range Era as you explore the park stories that interest you the most!

August 8 – Nature's Engineers

Discover some of the ranch’s best natural builders, what it takes to build a beaver dam, and how engineers often copy designs from the natural world.

 
Ranger with a child at the fence looking at draft horses.
A Ranger and child observe two draft horses taking a break from their chores.

NPS Photo/ Bruce Wright

Middle and High Program Sessions

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

June 20 - Ponds, Puddles and Plants

Your favorite pond or walking trail may have more life than you think. Learn how to collect water and soil samples from around the ranch and how to use a microscope to view the “hidden world” around us.

June 27 – Nature's Paint Pallet

Experience an artistic adventure. Using paint swatches, we will find some of nature’s amazing colors and use them to create a masterpiece!

July 4 – Mapping the World Around Us

Where have you been? Let’s find out! Join an adventure of exploring the ranch as we observe and map where we go and what we see!

July 11 – Nature's Band-Aid

Uncover the many varieties of medicinal plants on the ranch and learn how they helped people historically and still today!

July 18 – Cowboy Cooking

Join us as we explore how cowboys ate on the open range. On our journey through the chuckwagon, we will see what they would have had, and we will get to make our own cowboy chuck wagon meal!

July 25 – How to Save a Building

An important job of the National Park Service is to preserve and protect historic structures. Look behind the scenes at Grant-Kohrs Ranch and learn how the park’s historic structures are protected and then get your hands dirty participating in a preservation project!

August 1 – Let's Go Out and Play!

Games and crafts of the Victorian time period are not that different from what we know today! Come for an afternoon of fun as we learn crafts and play games children would have played in the 1800’s!

August 8 – Engineering is FUNdamental

Participate in several hands-on engineering activities and learn about the importance of science, physics, and energy in the design and construction of buildings, bridges, and structures.

Last updated: May 16, 2024

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Contact Info

Mailing Address:

266 Warren Lane
Deer Lodge, MT 59722

Phone:

406 846-2070 x250

Contact Us