South Platte Park and Carson Nature Center in Littleton offer naturalist-led school programs, and South Suburban Parks and Recreation says it is booking now for the 2026-2027 school year. The school programs brochure lists 12 programs: Life Underwater, Nature Detectives, Ecoadventures, Wild Defenders, Leaves & Life, Bug Out!, Gold Panning, Wild Places in Urban Spaces, Nature Mystery, Survivor in the West, Erosion Explorers and one on outdoor ethics. The descriptions include catching crawdads and meeting live animals at the South Platte River and a nearby pond, looking for tracks, feathers and nests, catching and observing insects, and panning for real minerals. A half-day program runs 10 a.m. to noon and a full-day program runs 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
For homeschoolers, the brochure describes a service called Rent-a-Naturalist. If a group has a curriculum-specific topic, special project or learning theme beyond the standard programs, the naturalists can create a customized experience, within reason and aligned with the park’s mission. The brochure calls it a fit for microschools, homeschool networks, learning pods and nature-based schools. It does not give grade levels, a minimum group size or which days are offered.
Know before you go
- Carson Nature Center at South Platte Park, 3000 W. Carson Dr., Littleton.
- Half-day (10 a.m.-noon): $9 or $12 per student. Full-day (10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.): $11 or $14 per student. The brochure labels the two rates R and NR. A river table setup is an additional $135.
- To book, use the school programs contact on South Suburban’s Carson Nature Center page. The full program list is in the school programs brochure.
- Nature center hours: Tuesday-Friday, noon-4:30 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; closed Mondays and holidays.
- Related resources in Littleton: Hudson Gardens: free admission and self-guided field trips and the Littleton Museum and its living-history farms.
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