Tracks & Trail Cameras

Tracks & Trail Cameras: A Family Adventure Workshop Series

The High Desert Museum is hosting a family-centered outdoor learning workshop series! Families from rural Central Oregon and beyond with children ages 8 through 11 are invited to apply. Learn together in this series of hands-on workshops where you’ll uncover the mysteries of the amazing predators and prey across our local desert and forests.

Working with wildlife professionals and Museum educators and using your own, place-based knowledge, learn to identify animals in the wild, track their movements and explore how they survive  to a changing landscape across Central Oregon. Workshops will include opportunities for learning both at the Museum and in the field.

After your adventures, you’ll get to work together to share your stories. This is a unique opportunity for you and a child in your life to explore the natural world around you and to spark your curiosity and sense of adventure. Together, you’ll investigate, research, interpret and share what you’ve learned.

In order to learn from and improve the workshop series, we will be asking you to provide feedback through surveys and virtual interviews. Our goal is to improve these educational opportunities for family programming across the country. 

What will my family do as part of the workshop series?

• Attend 6 family-friendly, daylong workshops with your child at the High Desert Museum and another field trip location within Central Oregon.
• Participate in fun, outdoor, hands-on activities.
• Create and share stories based on your experience.
• In working to learn from and improve these workshops, we will be conducting research to examine its effectiveness with the goal of improving educational family programming nationwide. Families will be asked to provide feedback about the workshops through surveys and virtual interviews.

Who is eligible to apply?

Adult caregivers with children ages 8 to 11 years old. Priority acceptance will be given to Central Oregon families living outside of Bend. Space is limited and families must apply to participate.

The same caregiver and the same child need to attend each workshop. Children must be accompanied by their adult caregiver. Additional family members ages 8+ are welcome to attend, space-permitting. If you have more than one child in the 8-11 year age range, an additional child is welcome, again space-permitting.

*Please note that the workshop series will be conducted in English, but your family’s reflections and projects can be created in your preferred language.

Cost

FREE!

Families will receive a $150 stipend for participating in the workshop series, gas cards to cover transportation costs and lunch will be provided at each workshop.

Workshops are scheduled from 9:00 am—3:00 pm on the following Saturdays: April 13, 20, 27 and May 4, 11, 18 of 2024.