Burr Oak Woods and Discovery Center offer summer fun

Kansas City, Mo. – Summer is a wonderful time to be outdoors, and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) offers free programs in Kansas City’s urban settings to help people connect with nature and learn outdoor skills.

For instance, Burr Oak Woods Conservation Nature Center in Blue Springs will offer an Outdoor Skills Camp for youths June 3 to June 18. Topics will include air rifles, archery, canoeing, fishing, orienteering and primitive hunting skills. Teamwork, safety and leadership are stressed. The camp is divided for ages 8 to 11 and ages 12 to 18. Advance registration is required, call 816-228-3766 for more information.

The camp is one of several outdoor skills and nature programs offered this summer at Burr Oak Woods. Visitors also enjoy the area’s trails through meadows and woodlands. For more summer activities at Burr Oak, mdc.mo.gov/node/280.

Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center connects people with nature in the heart of Kansas City at 4750 Troost Ave. Trails in the center’s outdoor garden are a fun walk and the scenery changes through the season as wildflowers bloom, prairie grasses grow tall and tadpoles turn into frogs in the pond.

The Discovery Center also offers a variety of summer programs to help people enjoy the outdoors. For example, from 6 to 8 p.m. on June 3 the staff will hold “Fire and Ice,” an early-summer campfire with s’mores and ice-cold drinks. But participants will also scour the prairie and woodland areas in the garden for natural items to use in art works.

For more information on Discovery Center programs, call 816-759-7300 or go to mdc.mo.gov/node/281.

Missouri is a great place to enjoy the outdoors and MDC offers options close to home at nature and education centers. The KC Nature and You Newsletter provides information on programs offered: mdc.mo.gov/regions/kansas-city/nature-you-newsletter.