Nearly every national park has a Junior Ranger program where the park provides the kids with an educational activity book that requires them to learn a bunch about the park to complete the activities. The first time we did this was four years ago (or so) at the Smokey the Bear National Park (near Ruidoso, New Mexico). We've also done the program at Kitty Hawk National Monument (when we stayed at Nags Head last year) and White Sands National Park (in the dunes deserts in Southern New Mexico). If you successfully complete the program, then you get a badge or a patch and you get "sworn in" as a Junior Ranger.
Grand Canyon National Park had a program, and when we checked in to the park and went to the visitor's center, we got six books for Mason, Ava, Gabe, Marney, Kiki and Max. Connor and Jack chose not to do it-- Connor feeling too old and Jack feeling too young. The activities included watching one of the Ranger presentations around the park, and then filling out different puzzles or quizzes in the book about the different things you can find in the park. By mid-day yesterday, all of the participating kids had completed their activities except for Max. So we all sat on the large, comfortable porch of the El Tovar Hotel and helped him complete his pages:
We dropped Nana, Connor and Jack off at the camp and drove to the visitor's center to find a Park Ranger, so we could show them that we had completed the books and were ready to be sworn in as Junior Rangers. Max, in particular, was extremely excited because this was the first time he was going to be a Junior Ranger:
Finally, we found the ranger and showed him the books:
Then, at long last, the kids swore their pledge to protect the parks:
The last step is to use the Park Stamp and stamp your book to prove the day you became a Junior Ranger:
The kids had a great time with it and were so happy to get their awesome-- real metal-- badges declaring them to be Junior Rangers.
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