The Green Center

Students kept cool at Castlewood State Park Missouri on Wednesday while learning about an aquatic habitat! With nets and eagerness to discover what lives in the water, these 4th graders spent the day being scientists by collecting and identifying macroinvertebrates.

Our Missouri State Parks are fantastic resources for students to learn about the natural world and become environmental stewards!
Missouri Parks Association

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Our 4th graders from Fairview Elementary visited Babler State Park on Tuesday to study a woodland ecosystem. It was an extra exciting experience as our hike took place during a rain shower! The Hawthorn Trail is highly recommended for kids of all ages. It offers a setting surrounded by trees, flowers, mushrooms, insects, animal tracks, and plenty of songbirds singing in all directions. It was the perfect way to begin our state park adventures!

Missouri Parks Association Missouri State Parks

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4th graders from Fairview Elementary School- Jennings School District are participating in this week's Science & Art Summer Experience! In this 4-day immersive program, these students will be visiting four of Missouri's important natural ecosystems to get hands-on, real-world experiences to strengthen their connection to nature.

The week started on Monday at The Green Center where our outdoor classrooms set the groundwork for learning to explore nature. All of their senses were used to discover what was living in the tall grass prairie, herb & vegetable gardens, and under the tree canopies!

A special THANK YOU to the Missouri Parks Association for making this Underserved Populations Outreach Program (UPOP) possible!

We welcomed members from the Missouri Master Naturalist program to The Green Center as part of their State Conference held this past weekend in St. Louis! What a wonderful group of citizens doing amazing work throughout our state!

The Missouri Master Naturalist program is a community-based natural resource education and volunteer service program for adults, sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation and .

This week's Camp program was sponsored by plenty of popsicles, sprinkler sessions, and Nikon/Kodak cameras. 😉

A thunderstorm and heatwave didn't stop our Nature Photography Campers! It just added a bit of actual steam to an otherwise amazing nature & S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math)-filled experience here at TGC.

Our camp helps these young learners by:
📷 increasing time spent outdoors away from (non-camera) electronics
🌿 building confidence in learning new skills
📷 gaining PATIENCE in waiting to get that "great shot!"
🌿 inspiring future citizen scientists through practicing plant identification and close observation of animal behaviors

This remarkable camp not only teaches children nature photography but gives them the gift of forever mementos through creating photographs of their childhood. And plenty of great memories to talk about the rest of the summer!

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🎉🎉2026 Summer Camp season has begun!!🎉🎉

This week welcomed our 5-7 year old campers to our Nature Play Camp. With its focus on creating a foundation for exploring, observing, and respecting nature, this camp is perfect for our early learners.

Each day our outdoor classrooms are filled with inquisitive campers learning about Missouri habitats through:
🍃hands-on activities
☀️careful nature observations
🍃building curiosity
☀️creating nature-based art projects
🍃sensory experiences with nature

We're sure this FANTASTIC week with nature is only the beginning of a lifelong love of the outdoors for our youngest campers! Here's hoping everyone a summer spent outside exploring!💚

Join this Sunday, June 7 for a ride from Tower Grove Park's Roman Pavilion to The Green Center's galleries. Riders will be able to enjoy a little impromptu closing reception for our current exhibits, Dormant Forms by Josiah McElmurry & Birds of U.City by Josh Hedlund. Bicycles will roll-out from the Pavilion at 2pm. Meet us there or join us en route.

Let's ride bikes, & peep some art!! 🚲🌿🖼

Thanks to the nearly 1,600 runners and ALL the amazing volunteers for making this year's Annual University City Memorial Day Run a massive success! We, the University City Public Library, & U City in Bloom couldn't be more appreciative of ALL of YOU for showing up and supporting our community organizations. Let's all do it again next year!! 💪💚

CALLING ALL RUNNERS!! Today is the last day to register and receive this year's new shirt. Don't miss out! Sign up today for this great run that supports great organizations: University City Public Library, U City in Bloom, and yours truly. Grab your spot AND shirt before it's too late!!

REMINDER ABOUT NEW SHIRTS!

Register by Wednesday, May 20 to secure your shirt for the race. Participants who register by May 20th are guaranteed accurate t-shirt sizing. Registrations received after May 20th will receive shirts while supplies last and preferred sizes cannot be guaranteed. T-shirts must be picked up by the start of race time or accurate t-shirt sizing may not be available. Register or volunteer for the race today: https://www.ucitymemorialdayrun.org/