Chaplin Nature Center

Chaplin Nature Center The Chaplin Nature Center is a 230-acre nature preserve along the Arkansas River near Arkansas City, Kansas. Trails open year round sunrise to sunset.

Visitor Centor with seasonal hours. We do not allow pets.

📸 Picture overload again from the last two days of Nature Sprouts Camp!Our morning and afternoon campers have been BUSY!...
06/04/2026

📸 Picture overload again from the last two days of Nature Sprouts Camp!
Our morning and afternoon campers have been BUSY! From exploring incredible insect collections and hands on collecting(a huge thank you to Tarl for sharing his amazing specimens with our campers!) to arts and crafts, planting milkweed for monarch conservation, learning navigation and geocaching skills, following a treasure hunt, mining for rocks and gems, digging for fossils, and even trying their hand at archery—these past two days have been packed from start to finish. And we can’t forget to mention we all enjoyed a BUG sucker 🍭-nostalgia if ya know, ya know.
Are we tired? Absolutely. 😴
Did we have fun? You bet! 😄
Tomorrow we wrap up camp with Stream Ecology for our littlest naturalists in the morning, followed by our Family Night for camp families to finish the week.
FYI🔥 Nature Sprouts Family Night begins at 6:00 PM (weather permitting). Bring your lawn chairs, favorite drink, and s'mores supplies. We'll have the campfire going and a family-friendly movie ready to enjoy under the evening sky. The movie will run approximately 1.5 hours. *This event is for camp participants and their immediate families only. 🎥
Thank you to all of our campers and families for making it a fantastic week at Chaplin Nature Center. We appreciate all the support during activities from families and snack donations! 🍊

06/04/2026

The nature center phone is down. If you need the director or have questions send a message through here or email [email protected]. Thank you!
Update: we are back to working again :)

🦋🌱 Our Nature Sprouts families got their hands dirty for conservation today!Thanks to a generous native milkweed plug gr...
06/03/2026

🦋🌱 Our Nature Sprouts families got their hands dirty for conservation today!
Thanks to a generous native milkweed plug grant from Monarch Watch, our morning campers helped plant 50 milkweed plugs in Chaplin Nature Center's tallgrass prairie, with more plantings planned tomorrow.
Students learned about the amazing Monarch butterfly life cycle and why milkweed is so important. Milkweed is the only plant where Monarch butterflies lay their eggs, and it serves as the food source for their hungry caterpillars once they hatch.
Every plug planted today helps create future habitat for Monarchs and other pollinators while teaching kids that even small actions can make a big difference for wildlife.
Thank you, Monarch Watch, for helping us grow habitat and inspire the next generation of conservationists! 🌱🦋
*Not all participants who helped plant are pictured.

Nature Sprouts – Day 2 Afternoon Session 🐢💦What a fun afternoon with our Nature Sprouts crew! Today we learned about cre...
06/02/2026

Nature Sprouts – Day 2 Afternoon Session 🐢💦
What a fun afternoon with our Nature Sprouts crew! Today we learned about creek life and macroinvertebrates before heading to Spring Creek to collect samples and evaluate the health of our stream. The good news? Our creek earned another great rating!

Every camper got the chance to get into the water and explore. Thanks to a small collection of waders, most stayed fairly dry—though with all the rain we received this morning, avoiding a little mud was nearly impossible!

After our creek investigation, we returned to the visitor center to create river rock art before meeting our Ornate Box Turtle ambassador, Boxy. Campers even had the opportunity to feed him snails and watch him quickly sn**ch up an afternoon snack.

Tomorrow we'll be exploring the fascinating world of insects and pollinators and taking part in a special project to help monarch butterflies. They can't wait to show you tomorrow’s adventures! 🦋🐝🌼

The AM session of Nature Sprouts is cancelled due to heavy rain and more forecasted. The safety of the kiddos when deali...
06/02/2026

The AM session of Nature Sprouts is cancelled due to heavy rain and more forecasted. The safety of the kiddos when dealing with water and outdoor activities is always our priority. Please make sure you are following the event page Nature Sprouts 2nd Annual Summer Camp and keep an eye on texts from the Director to stay updated on changes as we have variable weather forecasted this week. The stream ecology activity from this morning’s session will be rescheduled for Friday June 5th at 9am weather permitting. As of now the PM session is a go. Thanks all!

Day 1 of our Nature Sprouts afternoon session was a success! 🐦Our young naturalists learned about Kansas birds before he...
06/02/2026

Day 1 of our Nature Sprouts afternoon session was a success! 🐦
Our young naturalists learned about Kansas birds before heading out on the trails to put their birding skills to the test. Along the way, we added several species to our checklists, including Indigo Buntings, Red-eyed Vireos, and even a pair of Barn Owls!
Back at the visitor center, campers worked on building their own birdhouses before cooling off with some ice cream on this warm summer day. 🍦
Thanks for a great first day, everyone—we can't wait to see you tomorrow for more outdoor adventures!

Picture overload this week because it’s Nature Sprouts Camp time! 🌿🐦Today our morning session welcomed some of our littl...
06/01/2026

Picture overload this week because it’s Nature Sprouts Camp time! 🌿🐦
Today our morning session welcomed some of our littlest nature lovers, including children as young as 2 years old. Campers learned about birds and their nests, then headed outdoors to collect natural materials and build their own nests to hold an egg. 🪺
We also learned about mammals and their habitats and had the opportunity to meet our mammal ambassadors, Mocha and Latte! 🐹
Of course, we made time for some bird-themed arts and crafts 🎨 before cooling off with a yummy popsicle. With the summer heat in full force, we found a great balance between outdoor exploration and a little time in the A/C. ☀️🥵🫶
We can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s adventure brings!

06/01/2026

A book was left by a visitor today at the bottom of the CNC staircase. We have it in the visitor center. Call or send a message to describe and claim.

Address

27814 27TH Drive
Arkansas City, KS
67005

Opening Hours

Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 4pm
Friday 12pm - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+16204424133

Website

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