At many National Parks across the United States, children can become Junior Rangers by completing a book of activities relating to their visit in the park. They talk to park rangers about their answers and then receive a badge, patch, or certificate. To participate in the parks there is an age limit, but now the National Park Service has a WebRanger site for kids of all ages!
The WebRanger website. Choose your own ranger station!
On the WebRangers site, kids can create usernames (or just visit) and begin their adventures. The activities are too numerous to list, but include word games, maps, puzzles, mazes, and many more in order to learn parks’ history, about the work of park rangers, animals, associated people, science, and nature. Kids can even sign up as a Ranger and have a ranger station, track their activities, view webcams, and send e-postcards. Check out the site here.
And the NPS has even more activities for kids interested in the parks, whether it’s a coloring sheet to match the park, fun facts, and much more. Check out the kids archaeology program, where kids can learn about the different types of archaeologists and what they do (it’s not like the WebRangers program, but a good introduction to archaeology).
Way to go National Park Service — the people who are a part of the NPS are always doing great work and really trying to showcase the resources of the parks. So, check it out. I know a few “older” kids who would love to be a WebRanger…
Preservation in Pink 
Thanks for the wonderful review. WebRangers has indeed become a site for all ages. We currently have more than 105,000 registered WebRangers and almost 5,000 have completed all of the activities to receive their WebRangers patch and congratulatory letter in the mail.We’ve received lots of eMails from adults confessing that they have worked through the site to earn their patch. We recently heard from one mom who said “This is for me rather than my child – I did all the activities- my son did them first (and got his web badge) he then encouraged me to become a webranger too.”
Another gentleman, self-described as “a 50+ year old kid,” called it “the single best use of taxpayer dollars I have ever seen.”
Tom, I’m glad to hear that WebRangers is a success! I’m pretty sure that my mom is one of those older kids who will earn her badge. I love the NPS. Thanks for what you do.
Hi, I’m a mom who sat behind her kid all the time she was doing those activities so I could learn from them too. We are preparing a visit to the US where we will visit lots of national parks, so it was really great for us.
Pen, enjoy your visit and the parks!