Parents! Teachers! Non-Formal Educators! College students studying to be educators! Do spiders make you scream? Is your idea of “roughing it” an all-inclusive resort? Do you cringe inside (or maybe outwardly) when your children/students ask if they can “go play” outside? Then this is the workshop for you!

Many of you have expressed to park staff that you were raised to be “indoor” children and you don’t feel comfortable when left to explore the great outdoors with your children or students. At the same time, you don’t want to pass that fear of the outdoors along to your kids. So what can you do? Like any skill, you practice, practice, practice!

In this 2 day long workshop, we will introduce you to two different state parks, teach you how to be prepared for a day in the outdoors, familiarize you with the award winning Growing Up WILD and Project WILD outdoor education curricula, talk about Pennsylvania rules and regulations for recreation and education outdoors, AND practice your skills in fishing, hiking, and kayaking. Yes, that is a jammed packed two days. But with State Park educators by your side - along with other tentative adult learners – we think that after two days you’ll learn that it’s not so scary to play outside and you’ll have the skills to confidently teach (and learn) along with your kids!

This workshop will take place at Nolde Forest Environmental Education center on Monday, July 26 and at French Creek State Park on Tuesday, July 27.

The cost is $25.00, payable in advance by mailing a check (made out to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) to Nolde Forest EEC 3025 New Holland Road Reading, PA 19607. Act 48 hours offered for PA certified teachers. Spaces are limited due to availability of recreation equipment, so registration is required. Deadline to sign up is Wednesday July 21, 2021.

This workshop is for ADULTS ONLY!