Junior Ranger Program: A Great Way to Engage Children

Going on trips with kids can be challenging. It’s hard enough for them to stay still while listening to a park ranger give a talk, but when they also have to meander aimlessly from one historical marker to another claiming, “I’m bored”, then it’s time to rescue your vacation from being labeled as “worst vacation ever”.

This is where the Junior Ranger Program comes in. The National Parks Services, in an effort to promote the parks to the next generation, established the program when they saw the success of the Yellowstone National Park’s Junior Forest Ranger program. It was a great marketing tool which promoted families to get outdoors and learn about historical landmarks.

Children aged 5-13 may participate by asking for an activity book at the information center. Depending on their age group, they complete a certain number of activities. These activities may mean gleaning information from the exhibits, retaining information from the park ranger’s spiel, or reading the markers that dot along the park grounds. Some activities may include word searches, crossword puzzles, matching the correct answers, and/or fill in the blanks. Short essays may ask them to give their opinion about an exhibit or interview a park ranger. After which, they turn it over and they get sworn in by a park ranger. They receive a wooden badge from that specific park that they visited and depending on the park, they may also get stickers and other cool little trinkets.

This program has helped my children focus on the exhibits more than they normally would. It became a contest to see how many badges they can collect in our trips. Thankfully, the program is free to join (for the most part), and it’s a wise investment of 1-2 hours at each park. It’s the same time one would normally spend anyway in order to fully absorb what the parks have to offer.

It’s not too late to get into this cool way to encourage children to explore, learn, and have fun. Next time you plan a day trip or a multi-day vacation, it’s worth squeezing in a national park or two. It’s mostly FREE to join and most entrances to these parks are FREE as well. We are already looking forward to our next national park adventure that’s within striking distance to where we live. (Though some places offer junior ranger park badges via a virtual visit, we prefer going in-person, and that’s totally up to you as the parent.)

If you want more engagement with the parks, purchase a Passport to the National Parks and get stamped for every National Park you visit. it’s another fun way to remember where you and your family have been and keeps everyone excited to visit a park.

Purchase a passport from the gift shop or the visitor center of any National Park. You can get the date stamps for free and if you want to, you may also purchase stickers of the places you visited. Standard passport books cost $12.95 but you can also purchase the Junior Ranger version for $14.95. It’s a great way to have fun and support the National Park Service.