Coming in Spring to Prairie Fest x3

Explore Tandy Hills this year at Prairie Fest to discover your place in space, time and the natural world.

We’ve designed a self paced game and several guided hikes for children, tweens and adults.

Prairie Fest volunteers are building booths central to the new game and hikes, each with a different theme. Visit these activity booths to register for hikes and to enter a drawing for Prairie Fest treasures.

Activity Booths at Prairie Fest

• The Solar System Passport Office:

A game booth for space travelers of all ages.

• Chronos & Chlorospy Headquarters:

HQ for all hikes designed for 9-12 year olds.

• The Outlook Inn:

Register at the Inn for activities designed for 6-8 year olds.

Activity Descriptions

Discover your place in space.

Play the Solar System Passport Game © -- March 31, April 28 and May 26

To play the game, hike the quarter mile Solar System Trail along the Tandy Hills ridge to explore images of our cosmic neighborhood.  Clues to a riddle are in the passport code word boxes you’ll find at nine stations along the trail: the Sun and eight planets.  This is a self-guided hike for all ages.  Don’t get lost in space without a passport guidebook! 

Buy a passport guidebook for $2 at the Solar System Passport Office.  Our interplanetary travel guides will help you plan your tour of outer space.  Once you finish your hike, solve the riddle and return to the Passport Office for an official Space Traveler stamp and a NASA Year of the Solar System bookmark.

Find us listed on NASA’s global events map: From Earth to the Solar System.

Discover your place in time.

Time Traveler’s Hike -- Saturday, May 26

Sign up for this hike designed for ages 9-12 at the Chronos Headquarters Booth.
Time changes all things.  Beware the Time Vortex!  We’ll open time capsules to reveal changes at Tandy Hills over millions of years.  Hikers choose one time travel souvenir at the end of this 45-minute hike. 

Discover your place in the natural world.

Lost Letters Hike - March 31, April 28 and May 26

Sign up for this hike designed for ages 6-8 at the Outlook Inn Booth.
The Lost Letters hike is for children who would enjoy a 45-minute, freewheeling hike on a trail with steep slopes and creek crossings.  Hikers are encouraged to wear appropriate shoes.  Parents are welcome.

Guides will help you see the natural world in a new light.  Children leave with a hand crafted bookmark, and memories of adventures at Prairie Fest.  The Institute for Earth Education wrote this activity.

Food Factory Adventure -- Saturday, April 28

Sign up for this hike designed for ages 9-12 at ChloroSpy HQ

Crawl inside a leaf to spy on the inner workings of a Food Factory. We’ll train you well before your mission begins.  Once you’re inside the leaf, you’ll build a sugar molecule with your chlorospy team.  At the close of this 45-minute hike, we’ll share the fruits of our food factory labor.