Crystal Lake Park District Nature Center

As someone who grew up in CL, I'm so happy to see how they have renovated & upgraded the nature center! It was fun to bring my daughter to a place that was nostalgic yet so much better than I remember! The new exhibits are interactive & educational. A great place to bring littles on a rainy day, or just to play & learn about nature & their environment.

I'm spoiled by the huge Audubon nature center in Chautauqua Co, NY. I have family living in the area now and we found this as something familiar to our Audubon experience. What makes this worth going to is the butterfly room talk by William Sutphin. He's a great educator and very knowledgeable. The center has a few tanks of various critters, a table for children to do crafts, and a wonderful space to look out at the bird feeders, with helpful pictures on the inside wall to assist in bird identification (Baltimore Oriole!) . We were here when the weather wasn't good. I wished we could have explored the pond and trails. Kids aren't really exposed to nature like they used to. This center is a great way to do that.

The Crystal Lake Park District Nature Center is a joy to visit and play in as a break from our hike at Veteran Acres. My children absolutely love the area to explore animals in aquariums/terrariums as well as the butterfly room when it is open. We found many excellent resources here for upcoming events for the children such as mother daughter tea time and a woodcarving workshop for our oldest. In the building itself are heated bathrooms and a fun area for the kids to put on a puppet show with an abundance of puppets and other animals. A very fun place indeed! We hope to also host a birthday party here for one of our kids in the future!

I just happen to have stumbled on this & I'm so happy I did! It's gorgeous! On one trail, I went through the woods & then was in some sort of field. Very, very pretty!

We had an amazing time! The inside has animals like Turtles, Hissing Cockroaches, Toads, and the Butterfly Garden. There are plenty of activities for kids with different interests. We especially liked the Beaver Damn & examining the bugs under magnifying glasses. After visiting, we walked through the beautiful trails outside and even pointed out the different trees we learned about inside. Shout-out to Bob who was wonderful and gave us a mini-tour with some awesome fun facts.

Everyone there seemed very nice and friendly. There was no admission charge and things to do and see for kids. There is a room you can ask to go into that has butterflies and birds that they will feed and they will come right up to your kids which I thought was kinda cool. Checked out the trails a little. The park seemed like a nice place to take a hike.

This spot is a valuable place to go and learn about the surrounding nature. The center is spatially large and hosts maniquens of different birds, insects, animals and fish. It is very much like a mini museum.

2022- Went in today for their monthly craft, it was fun. While we were there, we got to see the bee hive and got a tour of the butterfly house. We saw caterpillars, butterflies and moths we've never seen before! The kiddo is excited about the classes we signed her up for as well! Update- all the classes have been a blast! Very interactive and engaging! 2016-First time I've been there and it was a great time. So much interesting items and things to teach the littles with!