Community Calendar

Victorian Beauty Workshop
April 25, 10-11 am

Audience: Adults & Teens
Meet: Visitor Center Classroom

Step back to the Victorian era and learn about the natural dyes and creams that we relied on for generations. Take a walk in the shoes of the Victorians to create cosmetics the traditional way, and get a look into the lives and recipes of those before us.

Participants will create several traditional cosmetic products to take home!

Fee: KNC Members $28, Non-Members $35 Please register.

Tai Chi With Ed Kehoe
Saturday, May 2, 10-11 am
Audience: Adults
Meet: Glen Vista Gallery

Start your morning with a relaxing Tai Chi program ideal for participants of all skill levels. Tai Chi is a great way to relax, recenter, and connect yourself with your body. Bring clothes for gentle movement!

Fee: Members $12, Non-Members $15 Please register.

Please join us the first Saturday of each month at 9 AM (barring special events or bad weather which will be announced on our Facebook page), for "Beginning Birding Walks," led by experienced birders from the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo. This event is free and open to the public. Meet at the second parking lot at Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Mattawan, just off SR 43. All skill levels are welcome.

We will enjoy nature while typically identifying 20-40 species of birds, plus butterflies, frogs, etc. Over 200 bird species have been sighted at Wolf Lake, which offers a variety of habitats and easy walking trails. Annual highlights include colorful songbirds like orioles, warblers, tanagers, hawks and eagles, kingfishers, Great Blue and Green Herons, and over 20 species of waterfowl. Eastern Bluebirds can be found year-round! Children accompanying adults are welcome. The focus is on birding fundamentals, and extra binoculars are always available. The walk typically takes about 2 hours (but feel free to arrive late or leave early).

Silver Maples: Keep Moving with Dr. Spitsbergen
Thursday, May 7, 11 am – 1 pm

Audience: Geared for Adults 50+, but all are welcome

Our nervous systems are complex and dynamic, changing over our lifetimes as we grow and move.

Dr. Spitsbergen is a WMU scientist, and is part of a lab that studies the ways that movement and exercise have tangible effects on our nervous systems over time. Take a closer look inwards and learn about the biochemistry going on inside all of us, and see how we can set our nervous systems up for success.

Bring your lunch! We will eat together after the program. This program is geared for adults 50 and up, but all ages are welcome.

Part of the Silver Maples Series: www.NatureCenter.org/SilverMaples

Fee: Member $12, Non-Member $15 Please register

Family Wildflower Walk & Workshop
Sunday, May 10, 10 am – 1 pm

Spend time bonding with your loved ones, and celebrate the spring blossoming around us. We’ll take a walk through our Emma Pritcher Prairie to observe the blossoming wildflowers of spring, and take time after to create our own pressed-flower candle holders.

Fee: Adult Member $12, Adult Non-Member $15; Children free. Please register.

Foraging the Edible Wilderness
Thursday 5/14 5:00-6:30pm; Saturday 5/16 10:00-11:30am
Meet: Visitor Center Main Parking Lot Sundial

Join KNC staff to learn some foraging basics of spring. Grab your basket and enjoy finding the edible treasures around us on a guided hike. Dress for the weather as this program will be entirely outdoors.

Register for May 14

Register for May 16

Fee: Members $14, Non-Members $20. Please register.

Saturday, May 16, 2-3 pm
Meet: Auditorium

Join WMU professors Jacklyn Brickman and Sharon Gill for a discussion of the ways that art and science overlap and strengthen one another. We’ll talk about ecology, expression, and the ways we can use art to connect with our ecosystems.

Fee: Included in regular KNC admission; KNC Members free! Drop in program.

Soap Making Workshop
Saturday, May 23, 10 am – Noon

Meet: Classroom

Audience: Adults

Fan favorite Molly Appeldoorn is back with a beginner’s lesson on crafting simple soaps from raw ingredients. Learn the traditional ways of soapmaking and get expert advice on how to tune your soap to your needs.

Fee: Members $16, Non-Members $20 Please register.

Kalamazoo River Guardians
Are you looking for an opportunity to better understand your local watershed? Become a Kalamazoo River Guardian! Working with a team of experts, participants will help sample parts of the Kalamazoo River watershed and its local tributaries for macroinvertebrates (water bugs). Samples will be brought back to the lab to be identified under microscopes as a group. The data collected contributes to a statewide database used for valuable research and monitoring of water quality. No prior experience is required.

Fee: Free event, $5 optional pizza lunch
Audience: All Ages (children must have an adult in attendance)
Meet: Merrill Park, 5845 Comstock Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49048

This event is recommended for those older than 8. If you have a younger person who you would like to bring, please connect with us and we can discuss ways in which they can participate safely and while having a fun experience. A chaperone is required to accompany participants younger than 14. Participants must have transportation to the sampling site and Heronwood Field Station (lab and lunch location).

Wetland Wonders
Saturday, May 30, Noon-3 pm
Audience: All Ages
Meet: Cooper’s Glen Auditorium

Swamps, bogs, marshes, fens… we love these marvels of our local ecology, but how well do you know your neighborhood wetlands? Learn about the wetlands here at KNC and take part in some exciting citizen science to sample and identify some of our wetland inhabitants.

Fee: Included in regular KNC admission