Summer Camp and Nature
Education Programs

PLEASE NOTE THAT CROMWELL VALLEY PARK COUNCIL, INC. WILL NOT BE A PART OF THE REGISTRATION PROCESS FOR 2025 AND IT WILL GO THROUGH BALTIMORE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION AND PARKS.

Our youngest campers will use all their senses to explore the park and learn about nature by playing games, meeting animal ambassadors, making crafts, exploring streams, and getting dirty!

Set out to discover the forests, gardens, meadows, and streams of Cromwell Valley Park. Campers will enjoy daily hikes, games, songs, and animal encounters.

Campers will explore the park while having fun with hands-on learning activities. We will be making discoveries in the streams, learning about Maryland’s natural history, playing environmental education games, and much more!

Explore the connections between humans and the natural world. Campers will learn a variety of outdoor skills and get to try out indigenous technologies, while also participating in traditional camp activities such as stream exploration, crafts, and games.

We’re off to see the beauty of Baltimore County’s nature parks! Campers will spend one day at Cromwell Valley and then travel to a new a park each day, taking part in hiking, canoeing, historical activities, and outdoor living skills.

The spring and summer are perfect times to explore Cromwell Valley Park! Join Park Staff as they lead you through activities online and then try them out on your next visit to the park. Many activities can even be done in your own backyard or neighborhood.

Our goal is to provide families with engaging ways to enjoy all the natural resources our beautiful valley has to offer and at no cost to our visitors. We hope you use the following videos and activity sheets this season to explore all your favorite spots and discover some new ones! Share your fun with us along the way by using #CVPSummer on your social media.

No registration or login is required.

Activities include making a leaf cup, leaf / bark rubbings and measuring a tree!

STEP ONE:

Watch THIS VIDEO on YouTube

STEP TWO:

Download and print these activity sheets:

• Top 10 Trees at CVP
• Leaf Cup
• Leaf Rubbing
• My Leaf

STEP THREE: Come to CVP or try in your own backyard!

STEP ONE: Watch THIS VIDEO on YouTube

STEP TWO: Download and print these activity sheets:

• Geocaching 101
• Geocaching Checklist
• Geocaching in 6 Steps

STEP THREE: Come to CVP to search for your first one!, taking part in hiking, canoeing, historical activities, and outdoor living skills.

Find the live poultry, bring them salad greens or dig up earthworms to feed them and visit Grinchy, the opossum.

STEP ONE: Watch THIS video with Ranger Breena on YouTube.

STEP TWO: Download and print these activity sheets:

• Down on the Farm
• Feed our Feathered Friends
• Farm MADLIBS©

STEP THREE: Come to CVP’s Willow Grove Nature Center and visit with these Farm Friends in person!

Pick up or download Sherwood history booklet and hike, visit historic Lime Kiln Bottom, make a feather-quill pen and paint with iron and ochre from the rocks in the Minebank Run.

STEP ONE: Watch THIS video with Ranger Kirk on YouTube.

STEP TWO: Download and print these activity sheets:

• Hike into History Map
• Hike into History Scavenger Hunt
• Lime Kiln Bottom Fill in the Blank
• Got Iron Ore?

How to Make a Feathered Pen – WARNING – THIS ACTIVITY REQUIRES ADULT SUPERVISION – PART 1 and PART 2

STEP THREE: Come to CVP’s National Register of Historic Places LIME KILN BOTTOM as well as visiting our Minebank Run Stream.

Nature Quest booklets, sponsored by Wegmans, available at the Willow Grove Nature Center at Cromwell Valley Park.

STEP ONE: Watch THIS video with Ranger Kirk on YouTube.

STEP TWO: Download and print these activity sheets:

NatureQuest in THREE EASY STEPS

• On the Trail BINGO
• Tracks on the Trail
• NatureQuest Word Search

STEP THREE: Visit various parks and recreation centers in Baltimore County on your own Nature Quest!

Bring a net or borrow one from the Willow Grove Nature Center and see what you can find in Minebank Run or ponds! Look for ochre in Minebank, find artesian wells and more!

STEP ONE: Watch THIS video with Ranger Kirk on YouTube.

STEP TWO: Download and print these activity sheets:

• Animals in the Stream
• Row Row Row Your Boat
• Frog Life Cycle

STEP THREE: Come to CVP’s amphibian ponds, marble springs and the Minebank Run Stream to find what you learned about! Remember: You may borrow nets from the Willow Grove Nature Center!

Bring a net and capture container or borrow one from the Willow Grove Nature Center and look in different habitats (field and forest) or pick up a baby beetle pet from the Nature Center to take home! Don’t forget to go visit our bee hives and learn about honey.

STEP ONE: Watch THIS video with Ranger Kirk and Ranger Breena on YouTube.

STEP TWO: Download and print these activity sheets:

• Label the Hercules Beetle
• The Coolest Caterpillars
• Raise Your Own Beetle

STEP THREE: Come to Cromwell Valley Park’s open old-growth fields and see what insects you can find! Don’t forget you may borrow a net from our Willow Grove Nature Center, but you will have to bring your own insect container for viewing!

Bring or borrow binoculars from the Willow Grove Nature Center, go hiking in the morning and watch and listen for birds, play our bird crossword, make a pine cone or milk carton bird feeder and come to the park to see the birds on your own!

STEP ONE: Watch THIS VIDEO on YouTube

STEP TWO: Download and print these activity sheets:

• Make your own Binoculars
• For the Birds Crossword Puzzle
• Make a Pinecone Birdfeeder
• Make a Milk Carton Birdfeeder

STEP THREE: Come to CVP to find the birds or try looking in your own backyard!

Bring a net or borrow one from the Willow Grove Nature Center and see what you can find in Minebank Run or ponds! Look for ochre in Minebank, find artesian wells and more!

STEP ONE: Watch THIS video with Ranger Kirk on YouTube.

STEP TWO: Download and print these activity sheets:

Animals in the Stream

Row Row Row Your Boat

Frog Life Cycle

STEP THREE: Come to CVP’s amphibian ponds, marble springs and the Minebank Run Stream to find what you learned about! Remember: You may borrow nets from the Willow Grove Nature Center!