Enjoy Nature from Home: Park Rangers Share Ideas

 

State parks have reopened for day use, with limited facilities available and advance reservations required. To help keep parks safe during the pandemic, visitors must bring and wear face coverings, keep a six-foot distance from those outside their group and avoid gathering in groups larger than five people.

To protect yourself and others, please follow all state and local orders, including guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Before making any plans, consult the State Park Alert Map for the latest updates on individual parks.

If you’re unable to visit a state park, our park rangers have come up with new virtual programs and other ideas to help keep you connected to the outdoors from home.

 

Join Us Live (Virtually)

 

• Gain new skills with the Texas Buffalo Soldiers by joining special workshops via Facebook Live, such as “Tracks and Trails,” “Knowledge Is Power” and more.
• Join us for a series of more than 30 online Texas Outdoor Family programs throughout the rest of April, as rangers teach a variety of skills like tent setups, camp cooking, photography and fishing. Programming builds toward a statewide #TexasOutdoorFamilyCampIn on May 2.

Many individual state parks are also sharing virtual programs. Check them out if you are looking for more outdoor knowledge!

 

Get to Know Native Plants and Birds Near You

• Get your hands dirty: You could have a yard, a patio, or even just a window sill and still be able to plant something this spring.
• Try these tips from Cornell’s “eBird” portal on wildlife watching from home.

 

 

 

Texas Children in Nature Network, a statewide network with chapters in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, the Rio Grande Valley and other regions of Texas, has lots of great resources to connect kids with nature. Visit Nature Rocks Texas to find your local region and more great ideas for how to make nature fun and educational for your kids. Below are a few upcoming examples:

• City Nature Challenge (April 24-27)
• Family Nature Walks (ongoing)

 

Print and Play

 

 

Use these coloring books, journals and more to keep your state parks connections strong and your kids learning about nature:

• Symbols of Texas from state parks past and present
• Junior Ranger Journals