PNC Board Meeting                                                                                       

Saturday, January 9th, 9:00 a.m.

Webelos Forester Badge                                                                              

Saturday, January 16th, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.                                           

Webelos scouts are invited to Pringle Nature Center to earn their forester badge. This program covers activities 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 in the Webelos Handbook. Friends and sibling are welcome to join this program if they are between the ages of 8 and 12. Spaces are limited and pre-registration is encouraged. Please arrive by 12:45 to check in. To pre-register click here.

Teacher Naturalist Volunteer Training - Kindergarten and First Grade

Tuesday, January 26th, Kindergarten: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.; First: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.                                              

Interested in helping the next generation become more curious and into nature, come as we go over our Kindergarten Programs - Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Mitten, and Nuts to You as well as our First Grade Programs - Weather, Winter Wandering, and The Green Planet. Come for one or both sessions.

Teacher Naturalist Volunteer Training - Second and Third Grade

Thursday, January 28th, Second: 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.; Third: 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Interested in helping the next generation become more curious and into nature, come as we go over our Second Grade Programs - Weather, Soils, Insects, and Recycling as well as our Third Grade Programs - Reptiles and Amphibians, Mammals, and Birds. Come for one or both sessions.

Teacher Naturalist Volunteer Training - Fourth and Fifth Grade

Friday, January 29th, Fourth: 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.; Fifth: 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Interested in helping the next generation become more curious and into nature, come as we go over our Fourth Grade Programs - Rocks and Minerals, Water Everywhere, and Pond Study as well as our Fifth Grade Programs - Predator and Prey, Map Use and Orienteering, and Geocaching.

Look! Up in the Sky! Mars Viewing            

Friday, January 29th, 9:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.                                                

The red planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the sun. This is the best time to view and photograph the northern hemisphere of Mars. Join us for a short talk on Mars and we will have our spotting scope and telescope set up to view Mars at its closest to Earth. Pre-registration is required! Please be sure to be dressed for the weather.

Friends: $3/General Public: $5

Nature Story Time Hike: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen              

Saturday, February 6th, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.                                                  

Bring out the little ones as we sit down to read this tale about a girl and her father who go owling on a moonlit winter night near the farm where they live and then we’ll head out for a hike with activities tied to the story.          

Free

Great Backyard Bird Count: Feeder Building

Saturday, February 6th, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Come join us the weekend before the Great Backyard Bird Count to build your own feeder to attract birds to your backyard. Rick Fare from Hoy Audubon will offer a short ID session as well as how to report data for the count. Supplies are limited, so register early.                                     

Friends: $10/General Public: $12

PNC Board Meeting                                                                                       

Saturday, February 13th, 9:00 a.m.

Great Backyard Bird Count

Saturday, February 13th, 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

While the GBBC is from February 12th to the 15th, Pringle will be taking part on one day. Whether you're an expert or novice, come pull up a chair by the windows and help us count the birds that come to the feeder. This is a joint venture between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Aububon Society where citizen scientists count and identify as best as they can the birds that come to their feeders and Pringle strongly encourages you to take apart of this citizen science from the comfort of your home as well the other days of the count.

Valentine's Day Candlelight Night Hike                    

Saturday, February 13th, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.                                             

Join us for a great time for the entire family. Enjoy the winter wonderland at night with family, friends, and loved ones on the candlelit trail at Bristol Woods County Park. Warm up afterwards by the crackling fire and refreshments will be served inside the center.

Friends: $3/General Public: $5

Webelos Geologist Badge                                                                             

Saturday, February 20th, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.                                                

Webelos scouts are invited to Pringle Nature Center to earn their geologist badge. This program covers activities 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 in the Webelos Handbook. Friends and sibling are welcome to join this program if they are between the ages of 8 and 12. Spaces are limited and pre-registration is encouraged. Please arrive by 12:45 to check in. Click here to pre-register.

"This is America" a Ken Burns documentary                                                                   Saturday, February 27th, 11:00 a.m.                                                                           Pringle will be showing the film “This is America” by Ken Burns. This is a shorter version of the “America’s Best Idea” miniseries that was on PBS. Bernadette Williams is a visiting National Park Service Ranger to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore from the Boston National Historical Park who will be hosting this event will be doing activities after the film to teach about the National Parks. Free; small donation suggested.

Tim Fulton: Bee Program               

Saturday, February 27th, 1:00 p.m.                                                  

Tim Fulton, area beekeeper, will talk about beekeeping and honey production. This interactive program is fun for the whole family. Pre-registration is required!                                       

Friends: Free/General Public: $3

Nature Story Time Hike: At Grandpa's Sugar Bush by Margaret Carney and Janet Wilson Saturday, March 6th, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.                                                   

Join us as we read a story about a young boy and his grandfather enjoying their annual rite of making maple syrup on grandfather's farm in Canada and then we’ll head out for a hike with activities tied to the story.                               

Free

PNC Board Meeting                                                                                       

Saturday, March 13th, 9:00 a.m.

Saturday, March, 13th, 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.                                                           Geocaching is a sport where people use their GPS’s to play hide and seek with cache’s, sometimes filled with treasure. Whether you’re an expert or novice, come on out to see if you can find our hidden cache’s. There will be a short informational session at 1:00 and 2:00 before heading out to search for the cache’s. Bring your own GPS or check out one of ours.

Friends: $3/General Public: $5

Webelos Naturalist Badge                                                                            

Saturday, March 20th, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.                                            

Webelos scouts are invited to Pringle Nature Center to earn their naturalist badge. This program covers activities 3, 4, 6, 7 and 9 in the Webelos Handbook. Friends and sibling are welcome to join this program if they are between the ages of 8 and 12. Spaces are limited and pre-registration is encouraged. Please arrive by 12:45 to check in. To register click here.

Look! Up in the Sky! Saturn Viewing

Saturday, March 20th, 9:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.                                                                 The ringed planet will be at its closest approach to Earth. This is the best time to view and photograph Saturn and its moons. Saturn's rings will be nearly edge-on this year and will be very difficult to see. In case of clouds, a night hike will be held instead                                       Friends: $3/General Public: $5

Leave No Child Inside: Worm Moon Night Hike

Saturday, March 27th, 6:30 p.m.

We may not see worms that night, but we will learn why March's full moon is called that as we explore the moon-lit forest with a naturalist led hike. We will use the moon as our flashlight and learn that it can be neat to explore the woods at night.

Friends: $3/General Public: $5

Nature Story Time Hike: Earth Dance by Joanne Ryder and Norman Gorbaty

Saturday, April 3rd, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.                                                 

Join us as we read this celebratory poem which asks readers to imagine that they are the Earth. After the story we will head out on to the trails to do activities related to the story.

Free

Leave No Child Inside: Spring Break Come and Explore Days

Tuesday through Friday, April 6th - 9th, 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. each day

Instead of being cooped up the entire spring break, come out to Pringle Nature Center to what is blooming and crawling around. This popular program is back for another consecutive year. Come all day or just for part of it. Depending on the program, participants may get dirty, so please come appropriately dressed.

Tuesday: Open Mic - We will set out our microscopes so feel free to bring in something from home you would like to see magnified or we have a few objects ourselves for you to explore.

Wednesday: Geocaching - Through rotations, a naturalist will take small groups out to show how to geocache and find some that are on our property. Geocaches are treasure waiting to be found with your GPS and one of the rules of geocaching is if you take a piece of treasure from the box to replace it with something else; if you would like to take something for a geocache please bring a family friendly trinkets to put into the cache's.

Thursday: Drip, Drop, Pond - We will have out the tools to explore and discover our pond critters. Will you be one of the one's brave enough to go into the pond.

Friday: Forest Frolic - Come and see what flowers are blooming or build a fort in the woods or even find your own magic spot in the woods to sit and listen to the animals that live in the woods. Come to the nature center first to receive your tasks you can do in the woods.                          Free

We are starting up our campfire talk series once again! Join us for our first one of the season about the camping and hiking program Leave No Trace where we will learn to "take pictures and leave only footprints."

Friends: Free/General Public: $2

Join Pringle as we join many other cities around the world as we raise awareness of water. Women and children in third world countries have to go 6 kilometers in order to get fresh, clean water. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Live Earth.

$15 before April 10th/$18 after to race day

Come help us as we continue our combat of European Buckthorn, Multi-Flora Rose, and many more invasive plants. Please bring your own work gloves, tools will be provided.

Do you like looking at birds, but aren't quite sure where to start? Hoy Audubon Society is offering this beginner's bird course for those who want to know how to start birding or have just begun.

Friends: Free/General Public: $3

Join us around the campfire as we talk about how Earth Day got started and how it's come to be. We will also talk about our Carbon Footprint and how it can affect the Earth. We will then compute our individual footprint and discuss ways we can reduce that number.

Friends: Free/General Public: $2

Join us as we read a story about a tree's life as it covers a broad sweep of history - from when the Native American's first bent it so it could become a trail marker up until modern times. Then we'll go out on a hike to see Bristol Woods own Native American Pointing Tree and do other activities related to the story.

Free

Bird Walk Saturday, May 8th, 8:00 a.m.                                                                           Join Rick Fare from Hoy Audubon as we look for the spring migrants in Bristol Woods. Bring your own binoculars; Pringle has a limited number of binoculars to check out and you can check out some of Pringle's bird guide books.                                                                                       Free