Field Trips to SEEDS – Blacksburg Nature Center
If you are arriving in a school bus, the driver can drop off your class right in front of the nature center on Wharton St. If the driver approaches from Lee St., then the bus will be in the right direction to drop the kids off at the sidewalk by our gate.
Our regular open hours for field trips are:
Wed 9-1
Thu 2-5
Fri 9-1
Sat 9-1
We most likely cannot provide special programs outside of our normal operating hours.
Cost:
We ask groups to contribute $1 per child that can be paid by cash or check made out to SEEDS. The nature center is run by Seek Education, Explore, DiScover – SEEDSTM, a local non-profit organization. SEEDS funds the entire operation and staff through donations and grants. The town of Blacksburg owns the Price House and grounds. Virginia Tech’s Dept. of Biological Sciences funds some of the director’s time and provides some of our exhibits.
What to Expect:
When you arrive, your class will get an age-appropriate introduction and orientation to the nature center’s exhibits and grounds. We have two important rules:
● Have fun and learn
● Respect the exhibits by not touching fur, feathers, scales, and not tapping on glass.
We have a variety of living and taxidermy exhibits that interpret and teach about our wonderful regional wildlife. We focus on native species, but also have a few examples of common introduced species (like our red-eared slider turtles).
If your group has fewer than 10 kids, then they can all stay together inside at once. For larger groups, we recommend splitting the group. The groups can then trade off doing inside and outside activities in roughly 15-minute increments.
We have a restroom upstairs.
Typically, class groups stay for about an hour, but you are also welcome to picnic on the grounds.
During our summer season (May 15 – August 15) we are operating with reduced volunteer staff and our teachers are running camps, so we are not normally available to host field trips during summer.