Claytor Nature Study Center provides exemplary outdoor environmental education experiences for elementary, middle, and high school students.
Through our hallmark programs – Young Explorers, Watershed Wonders, and Stream Ecology – we reach more than 1,500 PreK-12 students per year in our region.
It is a transformative experience for many of our visitors to learn through inquiry-based activities in the outdoors.
Depending on grade level, they are immersed in hands-on interdisciplinary learning activities covering the environmental sciences such as watershed studies, earth sciences, and life sciences, all with a special focus on human-environment interactions.
Our programs are designed to address the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) for science. We are increasingly providing field trip experiences that are custom-designed according to teacher and student needs.
The Center hosts children for week-long nature day camps and one-day camp programs throughout the year for children entering grades 1-5.
Our outreach programs have been supported through the years by grants from the Jessie Ball du Pont Fund, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the Virginia Office of Environmental Education, and the Virginia Resource Use Education Council.