The San Francisco Bay Area has an extensive array of programming to support little people with big curiosities.

Terwilliger Guides Share their Love of Nature, and So Can You

 • 

For more than thirty years, volunteers have been sharing their love of nature with children through the Terwilliger Nature Guide program. Named for renowned nature educator Elizabeth Terwilliger, the program is now part of the larger efforts of the San Rafael nonprofit known as WildCare. Anyone can become a nature guide after completing a training session. The next session will take place on August 14.

Helping Kids Discover the Wonder of Nature

 • 

You might think that 5-year-old Rosa might be hesitant to return to her teacher after sneaking off to smear gray mud all over her face and arms. Instead, she runs right up to teacher Chris Giorni with a smile on her round, blackened face….

At Home Under the Log

 • 

A world awaits discovery under almost any humble log in winter, whether it’s in your backyard or deep in the woods. Lift that log and make some new discoveries. Just be sure to put that log back carefully…

Kids Learn the Landscape in San Rafael

 • 

On Veteran’s Day, a day off when lots of kids might be home watching TV or playing video games, fourth and fifth graders from Bahia Vista Elementary School in San Rafael’s Canal district guided parents and friends through the four distinct bird habitats of Pickleweed Park and explained what they had learned about each habitat and its particular bird life.

Top Billing for Shorebirds

 • 

As summer turns to fall, thousands of shorebirds return to the shoreline and mudflats of San Francisco Bay, either for a pit stop on their way south or to stay for the winter. Sometimes many different kinds gather in one place. How can you tell them apart?

The BAWT Mobiles Come to Town

 • 

The BAWT mobiles are in town, and they mean serious wilderness business. With the help of City Car Share and the local nonprofit Bay Area Wilderness Training (BAWT), Bay Area youth organizations can now reserve vans to transport children for field trips and campouts.

Dinosaur Plants

 • 

While living dinosaurs are nowhere to be found in California these days, you can see recognizable descendants of plants that lived with them–right here in the modern Bay Area.

River of Words, 2008

 • 

When teacher Linda Cover walks into a classroom, she steps onto fertile soil, knowing that her students have a cumulative knowledge of their watershed. As a Spectra Arts teacher with the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz, she works with kids … Read more

Outdoor Summer Camp Resources

 • 

Too much homework? Bully picking on you at school? Perhaps not, but have you stopped to wonder if your children are yearning for a breath of fresh air? Sometimes, even the ol’ backyard isn’t enough backcountry for a cooped-up kid, … Read more

Falling for Spiders and Termites

 • 

Things begin rumbling about now. Storm clouds pile up along the outer Coast Ranges, the winds shift and come out of the south, days get shorter, and the air gets colder. We all know what’s coming: the rainy season. Termites and spiders know it too, and they’re getting busy.