Education is central to our mission to connect community members of all backgrounds to the Chicago River, and one of our most popular educational opportunities are field trips!
We offer free field trips to any school or youth group who asks -- Field trips always begin with a tour of the park (led by either staff or out docent-trained volunteers) before splitting into small groups for ~20 minute station rotations. This is where we need your help
With so many students, we need help leading activity stations centered around ecology and nature. Stations can include seed bomb making, exploring aquatic habitat and macroinvertebrates, cleaning the river by picking up trash, and more. All stations are straight forward and fun to teach, so you can pick your preference!
If you love education, engaging students with the environment, or just want to hang out with some cool folks, sign up today! Most of our field trips occur in the Spring and Fall. We will update this opportunity with new field trip dates as they are scheduled.
In addition to these field trips, we'll use this opportunity to post any public programs we might need help with. Monthly fishing events, partner events, etc... Please be sure to read the description of each event before signing up!
If you have any questions, please feel free to email rangers@urbanriv.org or maddie@urbanriv.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------July 1: Project Exploration field trip/workday; about 30 students participating in litter clean up, kayaking, and a tour; 10:45 am - 1:30 pm at the Wild Mile
July 2: ChiCat field trip; two portions throughout the day with 80 students on shift 1 and 60 students on shift 2; groups will start with a tour and rotate through macro-invertebrate, camera trap, and nature journaling stations. Shift 1: 9:15 - 11:30 am; Shift 2: 2:15 - 4:30 pm
July 7: Garfield Park field trip/workday at the Wild Mile; about 20 students participating in litter clean up, kayaking, and a tour; 10:45 am - 2 pm
July 8: MN field trip; about 30 students participating in macro-invertebrates and microscopes; 9:45 am - 12:00 pm at the Wild Mile
July 10: Jane Goodall Institute Youth Summit field trip; about 40 students participating in a tour and rotating through macro-invertebrates, nature journaling, and seed pods; 9:15 - 11:00 am at the Wild Mile
July 13: Project Education field trip; about 30 students participating in seed pods, microscopes, buoyancy, plant ID, and macro-invertebrates; 9:45 - 12:45 at the Wild Mile
July 16: Sail Her Dreams field trip; event at the Chicago Maritime Museum (1200 W 35th, Chicago IL, 60609); 8:30 - 1:00 pm; Females only please *Note this is NOT at the Wild Mile
July 18: Union Impact field trip; at Park #571 (2754 S Eleanor Street, Chicago, IL 60608) 9:15 - 2:00 pm *Note this is NOT at the Wild Mile
July 23: Gary Comer field trip at Wild Mile; 9:45 - 11:30 am
July 26: The Honeycomb Project at the Wild Mile; small groups and families will join us to connect with nature through different activities like examining macro-invertebrates, litter clean up, and seed pods; 9:45 am - 12:00 pm at the Wild Mile
