The Pottawattamie County Conservation Education Program reliably provides positive early childhood experiences with the natural world.

"Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives." --Thomas Berry

Children are born naturalists persistently observing the world around them. Constantly curious, eager to find and to learn, children view the world with a bright sense of wonder. They use all of their senses in order to know something—feeling the bark of trees or running their hands through mud, smelling a patch of wildflowers, hearing the crickets chirp, tasting flakes of snow that fall from the sky or watching as the stars light up the night. What better time to engage their sense of wonder and cultivate their curiosity into a wide love and understanding of their natural world?

KinderNature programs are designed to channel the curious and creative forces constantly at work in our youngest learners. These programs utilize storytelling and hands-on activities including crafts and games to introduce new topics and unfamiliar terrain; outdoor exploration invites children to learn the way they know best—whether they’re building their own beaver lodge out of sticks and twigs, catching butterflies in nets to observe up close, or listening for the chirps of birds—KinderNature programs invite children to participate in their surroundings as they discover the magic and wonder of nature.