Playing With Nature in Nampa, Idaho
by tulipgirl on 08/20/08 at 2:33 pm
On the first and third Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon of each month, the Deerflat National Wildlife Refuge hosts a story, craft, and snack time called “Reading at the Refuge” free of charge for kids at the visitors’ center. On July’s first Tuesday I decided it was time to revisit the Refuge. It’s been awhile since we had been and the kids needed to get out of the house, so off we went.
The visitors’ center is a great place for kids even when it isn’t story hour day. A huge display of stuffed birds and ducks in a natural looking setting awaits just inside the door. Looking at each animal and identifying it on the little chart provided kept my daughter’s attention for several minutes.
Meanwhile, my son made a beeline for the telescope set up to look out over the “wild lands” and the lake.
Eventually we made our way to the “kids’ corner.” The most popular feature there was the various rubber animal footprints and sand box to stamp them in. We had to literally draw a line in the sand so both the kids could play at once without the footprints stomping all over each other. 
Other interesting activities included a place to do nature rubbings; puzzles; a touch and feel box complete with feathers, rocks, antlers, etc.; and a huge divided box containing probably 20 of the Audubon Society birds that sing when squeezed in the middle, all of them labeled with their species name.
Once we finished with this excitement, my kids headed back to the explorative play area. I finally lured them outside with the promise to go see the bird feeding station we discovered a few weeks ago. However, the need for a potty-break eventually brought us back to the visitors’ center, where, after they took care of business, I had a hard time convincing them that we really had to get home and fix lunch for Daddy, but that we could definitely come back another day. Chalk one up for another free excursion that doesn’t require much gasoline to visit. And as long as you stay inside, it’s a nice cool place to be on these hot Idaho summer days.
The Visitors’ Center is at Roosevelt and Indiana in Nampa and is open everyday except Sunday. For more info check out the Deerflat Refuge website or read a previous 1ktodo post about other things to do outside the Visitors’ Center.
