Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (National Lakeshore) has a wide variety of free educational field trips and other program options for students.
Signups are now open for the popular Winter Experience field trip program. Educators can register 3rd-12th graders for this exciting opportunity to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes in the wintertime. Depending on their age level, participants will learn about winter adaptations, climate change, and the connection of parklands to watersheds. If conditions allow, students will don snowshoes during their trips, however, programming will pivot to winterhike versions should there not be enough snow. These field trips are offered from mid-January until early April.
In addition to field trips to the park, educators also have the option to invite rangers over to their school or other venue to facilitate the new “Sharing Star Stories” program. This program uses a state-of-the-art inflatable planetarium dome and laser projector to provide an immersive night sky experience for students. Students will learn to navigate the night sky and explore constellations, including those of the Anishinaabe, the Indigenous peoples of this area.
For classes that are unable to visit the park or host rangers in person this winter, there is yet another option on offer to bring the park into the classroom. The National Lakeshore is continuing to offer their engaging ranger-led Distance Learning programs for live virtual “visits.” Topics include black bear adaptations, traditional knowledge of the Anishinaabe, the endangered piping plover shorebird, geology of sand formation and more. More information on these programs can be found on their website at www.nps.gov/ slbe/learn/education/distancelearning. htm.
The National Lakeshore also has funds from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for reimbursing bus transportation costs. These grants are administered by the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes. Grants will be awarded competitively with preference to Title 1 schools and those with an average travel cost per student of up to $10. If educators would like to be considered for reimbursement, they must provide an estimate of their transportation costs in their request email.
To register for any ranger-led educational program with the National Lakeshore, please follow the instructions found on the their website: www.nps.gov/ slbe/learn/education/field-triphow- to.htm. Any questions about programming can be sent directly to slbe_education@nps. gov.
