School Programs
The Kansas Wetlands Education Center offers several science- and nature-based school programs as field trips or outreach in your school classroom or facility.
Programs are designed to run approximately 45 minutes to one hour, depending on student age and class needs. Programs combining trips to the Bottoms and/or hikes with classroom time may run longer than one hour. Programs feature live animals and plants where possible and/or hands on materials and activities.
Programs are provided free of charge. Our schedules fill up quickly, especially in early fall and late spring. Our educators can travel within a 60-mile radius of the KWEC, located near Great Bend.
The preferred maximum number for each class is 30 students, but larger groups can be accommodated by rotating students among several programs/activities. For hikes, 25 or less students is preferred.
Links to a full list of program offerings are below. At the end of each program description is a list of Kansas state science standards met for each age group. Some programs are created with a certain age group in mind, but programs can be adjusted to the specific age group of your students. Please refer to the science standards for age appropriateness.
Please contact us if you do not see a program topic that you are interested in. Modifications can be made to existing programs or new programs can be created to meet your curriculum needs.
To schedule a program, or for more information, please call KWEC toll free at 1-877-243-9268, Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm. You can also email Mandy Kern at amkern2@fhsu.edu.
K-6 Programs:
- A Butterfly’s Journal
- Cheyenne Bottoms’ Spring Chorus
- Birds: Nature’s Marvelous Flying Machines
- Create a Bird
- Making Tracks
- Is it Reptile or Amphibian?
- Wonderful Wetlands
- Cottonwood: Tree of the Great Plains
- Mammals R Us
- Wetland Plants
- Pollinators: Plants’ Best Friends
- Extraordinary Eggs
- Water Cycle
- Cheyenne Bottoms and Water
- The Plant World of Cheyenne Bottoms
- Survivor!
- Alien Invaders
Individual Bird Adaptation Programs:
- The Case of the Hungry Owl
- Bills and Feet
- Have Wings, Will Travel
- Home Life
Outdoor programs available at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center during spring and fall:
- Habitat/Seasonal Hike
- Wetland Study
- Insect Search
Special Programs
- Kansas Day Symbols
- Halloween Critters
- Turkey Talk
- Baby Animals
Download: Grades K-6-Full Program Descriptions
Contact - Mandy Kern - FHSU Program Specialist to schedule a K-6th grade program
Seconday Programs - Middle School (Grades 7 – 8) and High School (Grades 9-12)
Classroom/Outreach Programs:
- Virtual - Wetland Metaphors
- Wetland Wonders
- Power of WIND
- Wetlands STEAM
- Motus Wildlife Tracking System
- Anatomy of Flight
- BFFs Forever
- Green Schools Investigations
- History of Cheyenne Bottoms
- Jr. Duck Stamp Program
- A Sand County Almanac
Programs available at the Kansas Wetlands Education Center:
- Cheyenne Bottoms Tour
- Water Canaries
- Small Mammal Trapping
- Merlin
- Geotrooping
- Wetland Forensics
- iNaturalist
- World Wetlands Day (Scheduled in February)
- World Shorebirds Day (Scheduled in September)
We can also provide assistance in preparing your middle school and high school students for the Kansas ECO-MEET in the fall.
Download: MS.HS Programs
Contact - Mandy Kern - FHSU Program Specialist to schedule a 7th-12th grade program