Youth Group Programs

The following programs are available free of charge at locations throughout Pima County. Programs are tailored to organized youth groups (ages 5-12). Select from this menu of programs to schedule a time to bring your youth group to a Pima County Park, or we can bring the educational program to your facility. For additional information and scheduling call 520-615-7855 or email eeducation@pima.gov.

Youth Group Programs Brochure

Orienteering
Orienteering is a fun and practical way to explore the outside world. Each child will learn to use a magnetic compass and to find their way though a custom-made orienteering course.
Location: Agua Caliente Park, Feliz Paseos Park or appropriate outside location.

Sonoran Desert Discovery
Bring your group on a guided trail hike in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains at Feliz Paseos Park, or experience life in a desert oasis at Agua Caliente Park. Participants use binoculars and hand lenses to take a close look at desert life and work as a team to learn about the connections between plants and animals and their environment.
Location: Agua Caliente Park or Feliz Paseos Park.

Let’s Go Birding!
Your group will learn easy tips for observing birds and use binoculars and field guides to see and identify common birds of the desert.
Location: Agua Caliente Park, Feliz Paseos Park or appropriate outdoor location.

Explore Aquatic Life
Discover the diversity of life in the ponds at Agua Caliente Park. We use nets, skimmers and buckets to collect water samples and then watch the water come to life under the microscope.
Location: Agua Caliente Park.

Go Batty!
The group will be introduced to the fascinating lives of bats while working as scientists to net bat replicas, take measurements and look for other clues to identify the bats. Then the teams discuss the results and compare data from actual bat research in the Sonoran desert.
Location: Agua Caliente Park or appropriate outdoor location.

Pollinators of the Desert
We’ll go out into nature to explore the many shapes, colors and aromas of flowers and we will see what kinds of animals are visiting the flowers.
Location: Agua Caliente Park, Feliz Paseos Park or appropriate outdoor location.

Watersheds and Watercolors
We’ll build watershed models and track the movement of water through the landscape. With the inspiration from the watershed building activity we will make watercolor paintings.
Location: Agua Caliente Park or appropriate outdoor or indoor location.

Nature Discovery Packs
Explore nature and learn about the diversity of wildlife at Agua Caliente Park through self-guided activities and tools included in our nature packs. Packs can be loaned out to individuals or groups visiting the park.
Location: Agua Caliente Park

Camouflage – Hide and Seek in the Desert
Animals come in all sorts of colors or have patterns and shapes that attract attention or may help them blend into their surroundings. A digital slide presentation will be followed by a series of engaging activities to learn how camouflage plays a role in animal survival.
Appropriate indoor location.

Experiencing Nature through the Senses
Animals use their senses to explore their surroundings, look for food and even find a mate. Use your senses to learn about the plants and animals that call the Sonoran Desert home.
Location: Appropriate outdoor or indoor location.

Jammin’ with Nature
Animals and people use calls and songs to communicate. With a multimedia presentation we introduce the group to the amazing variety and discuss the significance of nature sounds. Then the children will use simple musical instruments to recreate the sounds from nature.
Appropriate indoor location.

Animal Tracking
Some animals may be hard to find but they often leave behind one tell-tale clue—their tracks. Your group is sure to enjoy this activity using rubber track replicas to recreate animal tracks and learn how to identify tracks in the wild.
Appropriate outdoor or indoor location.

Skulls from the Sonoran Desert
You can tell a lot about an animal by looking at the size and shape of its skull. The group will examine replicas of skulls to learn about what the animals eat, where they live and how they hunt.
Appropriate outdoor or indoor location.

Habitats by Design
The group will learn the basics of what makes good wildlife habitat. Using plant and animal resource cards the group will assemble a plan for a backyard wildlife habitat. Best suited for ages 8 – 12.
Appropriate outdoor and indoor location.

Pollinators and Food
We’ll take a close look at the parts of a flower and discuss how, with the help of pollinators, plants create fruits. Then we’ll have an activity to better understand how we rely on the work of bees and other pollinators for most of the food on our plates.
Appropriate outdoor and indoor location.