Welcome future Junior Naturalists!
The Craigleith Heritage Depot has created interactive booklets to introduce children to outdoor exploration and palaeontology.
The activities are designed to engage, while also teaching youth about local wilderness and fossils. By completing the required number of activity books a badge will be awarded. Once you have achieved a badge for our two programs a Junior Naturalist certificate will be awarded!
There are three age groups: 4-6, 7-9, and 10-13 years old with activities such as scavenger hunts, word searches, mazes, leaf rubs and more. If a child finds the activities in their age group to be to easy feel free to go to the next age category. PDF versions of the booklets can be found by clicking each age group header - if you do not have a printer at home there is access to a printer at both the Craigleith Heritage Depot and the L.E. Shore Library.
How to receive your badge
To receive a badge, you must complete the required number of activity books. Prior to starting an activity book head over to the Craigleith Heritage Depot to pick up your Field Journal. When you have completed an activity book bring the Field Journal to the Craigleith Heritage Depot, where staff will look over your activity book and award you a sticker for each completed book. Stickers will be placed in your Field Journal where you will also write about what you have learned throughout the activity book. When you have the total stamps needed for completion you will receive your badge.
Junior Explorer
These activity books will introduce you to outdoor exploration and local animals, plants, and habitats. The activities are designed to engage, while also teaching you about the wilderness here in The Blue Mountains.
To receive your Junior Explorer badge, you must complete the activity booklet and bring it to the Craigleith Heritage Depot where the staff will look over the booklet and award you a stamp in your Field Journal, once you have completed 4 of the 5 activity booklets you will be awarded a badge.
Junior Palaeontologist
These activity books will introduce you to local fossils, the science behind paleontology and the different geological time periods Earth has gone through. The activities are designed to engage, while also teaching you about the field of paleontology.
To receive your Junior Palaeontology badge, you must complete the activity booklet and bring it to the Craigleith Heritage Depot where the staff will look over the booklet and award you a sticker in your Field Journal, once you have completed 4 of the 5 activity booklets you will be awarded your badge