Let's get ready for those warmer afternoons and make your own sidewalk chalk! I enjoy the plaster of Paris recipe best because I can keep the chalk I don’t use for next time, but this chalk paint recipe is pretty neat too! Haga clic aquí para encontrar esta información en español. Translated by Angélica Sánchez Mora.

Looking for some fun, kid-friendly nature-related activities this spring? We're here to help! The activities below can be adapted for kids of all ages and will work well while self distancing.

Many thanks to Environmental Educator Brynne Drohan for this list.

(Contenido en español también)

I started my position as a Visitor Services Specialist for the Menomonee Valley branch about four months ago. One of the best parts of my job is not only having the opportunity to use my first language, Spanish, but also to help my community connect, or in many cases reconnect, with nature and the environment. It also gave me the ability to start that re-connection that my family has with nature and with Milwaukee ecology specifically.

Experience the serenity of the nighttime forest in the heart of the city, spend some time in the outdoors with us.

Candlelight Walk and Candlelight Walk for Kids are yearly traditions of honoring the longest night of the year. Take a guided stroll down the luminary-lit paths of the Milwaukee Centennial Rotary Arboretum and enjoy stops along the way for readings of seasonal poetry and prose. Back at the Center warm yourself by the fire as you enjoy music, snacks and hot cider.

Saturday, December 15 | Riverside Park
Walks begin at 7pm and continue every fifteen minutes (last walk leaves at 8:30pm)
Pick Your Price: Program Cost - $14 | Member Discount - $10 | Price Break - $7

Registration for specific walk times is required.

Register for your Candlelight Walk start time below

If you are unable to register for a selected walk time, that means that the walk is full. We apologize that our website is unable to update walk availability in real time.

The Candlelight Walk for Kids features offers earlier start times, kid-friendly readings and stories, shorter routes for littler legs, crafts, games and, of course, hot chocolate and snacks back at the Center! 

Saturday, December 15 | Riverside Park
Walks begin at 4:30pm and continue every fifteen minutes (last walk leaves at 5:45pm)
Pick Your Price: Program Cost - $14 | Member Discount - $10 | Price Break - $7

Registration for specific walk times is required. (Free for kids 3 and under)

Register for your Candlelight Walk for Kids start time below

In our December 2017 Weekly Guide emails we introduced our supporters and friends to some people they helped connect to the outdoors. We think their stories are pretty awesome so we put them together in case you missed any of the updates. Experience the Urban Ecology Center through the videos below. You'll find a determined teen, a budding butterfly scientist, a Menomonee Valley family, and one of our monthly donors.

One of my very first memories, from when I was three or four years old, was of me fishing with my dad. He had taken me camping up in the Chequamegon-Nicolet national forest. I remember only bits and pieces of riding in the truck, sleeping in a tent, and sitting around a campfire. But being out on a lake in the boat, that I remember quite vividly.

April 22nd is Earth Day, celebrated around the world as a day to protect, steward and learn about the earth. Here at the Center we're inviting everyone to help celebrate with our Earth Day of Service, a morning of pitching in with friends and neighbors at each of our three branches to show some love to our little corner of the planet - come join us!

Keeping New Year’s resolutions can be hard. Especially if one of your resolutions is to be active outdoors the middle of a season that usually keeps us indoors. I’ve learned that finding a group of people with similar interests can help get me going. So, if you’re aiming to start your year with more exercise, less stress and more meaningful time with family, we can connect you with others to help you along. Soon the resolution will become a part of your usual routine.

Our Candlelight Walk and Candlelight Walk for Kids on Saturday, December 17th, are dedicated to enjoying the quiet solace of a winter’s evening on one of the longest nights of the year.

Take a guided stroll down the luminary-lit paths of the Milwaukee Centennial Rotary Arboretum and enjoy stops along the way for readings of seasonal poetry and prose as you experience the serenity of the nighttime forest in the heart of the city. Back at the Center warm yourself by the fire as you enjoy snacks and hot cider.

Price: $5 ($10 for nonmembers)

Walks begin at 7 and continue every fifteen minutes through 9 o'clock. Registration for specific walk times is required.

Click here to register for your preferred time.

Our Candlelight Walk for Kids offers earlier start times, kid-friendly readings and stories, shorter routes for littler legs, and of course hot chocolate and snacks back at the Center!

Walks begin at 4:30 and leave every fifteen minutes, with the last kids' walk leaving at 6. Registration for walk times is required.

This special evening is an Urban Ecology Center tradition. Spend it with us as we enjoy the gentleness of our longest nights and celebrate the increasing daylight still to come.

Price: Adults: $5 ($7 for nonmembers) Children: $3 ($5 for nonmembers)

 Click here to register for your preferred start time!

As a child, my bed was flush up against the window in my bedroom. That window provided me with my first encounters with nature.

In winter, I was so mesmerized by the snow-capped trees and gently covered ground, I would stare out the window for hours. It became a sort of game for me to decipher when the deer would pop out from beyond the trees.

In summer, the breeze would come through the open window and at night the crickets would put me to sleep.

In the springtime, I’d eagerly await the flowers and the smells that would come from the forest.