Looking for something to do with the kids this weekend? The Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center at Lake Elmo’s Sunfish Lake Park is a great go-to for families with young children looking for a little outdoor adventure.
Sunfish Lake Park, and the one acre around the Nature Center, offers some easy and beautiful trails for a nice ramble. Close to the center is the Storybook Trail, which leads visitors through their beautiful prairie rehab project, and features a rotating display of storybooks, posted a page at a time on placards so that the story unfolds as the hike proceeds.
The SMINC is proud of their many partnerships with neighboring science and nature organizations, including the 3M Wizards, who show up sometimes for weekend events to put on cool science demonstrations of what happens to things when they get really cold. This year they’ve welcomed guests from Tamarack Nature Center and the Minnesota Raptor Center who both brought some great live animals. Summer 2023 programming featured raptor week, with summer camps devoted to learning about raptors, and an open program featuring a demo from the Raptor Center. The Center itself features interactive displays to teach visitors about everything from the topography of Sunfish Lake Park to the bird and mammal life around the park. Many of the displays feature tactile elements, like sand tables, or real bird wings that visitors can handle, as well as art stations—plus plenty of displays of student artwork on the walls throughout the building.
On weekends the SMINC always tries to offer something educational for visitors. On Saturdays and Sundays one of their nature educators will typically be there for the Interpretive Drop-Ins, which feature rotating, seasonal topics, from things like wildflower identification to animal tracks to bees. Educators use center resources like the indoor apiary, and often include a project in their instruction, such as making a birdfeeder, so visitors can take something with them when they go. Drop-ins are relatively unstructured, visitors can show up, learn something, go on a hike, all on their own schedule. Some weekends the center will also feature more formal, structured educational programming, like demos from the 3M Wizards, or guided river otter hikes and sleds. Check in with the SMINC’s website for upcoming programs. Since the Pandemic, the SMINC has become a popular place for pre-school groups and homeschool groups to come, a place where students can take advantage of the center’s many educational resources in a beautiful natural setting.
Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center is open seven days a week and is located at the entrance to Sunfish Lake Park in Lake Elmo, MN. To learn more about upcoming programs, summer camp programming, and for specific hours of operation, visit their website at https://sminc-lake-elmo.org
Looking for more fun in Oakdale, Cottage Grove, Woodbury & Stillwater?
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