Junior Ranger Program

The activities in the Junior Ranger program were designed with all ages in mind. That being said, kids ages 5-12 will get the most out of the activities, but people of all ages, including adults, are welcome to complete the activities to earn patches. But, an age appropriate effort to complete the activities is required. For example, if an adult wants to earn a patch, they should be completing the more complex activities. But ultimately it is up to the park staff’s discretion if they deserve a patch. If they just want a patch without earning one, many parks have other patches available for purchase. The activities that can earn you 1 acorn point are easier and designed so that non-readers/writers can complete them. The activities worth 2 acorn points are a little more challenging and require the ability to read/write (or a parent/adult can help them fill these out). Activities worth more than 2 acorn points (About on page 5, ecoEXPLORE and Kids in Parks on page 22-23, Learn in the park on page 24, protect the park on page 25, and share your park experience on page 26) are all valued higher because of the importance of the activities. This is either because we think it’s essential info for them to know about the park, because it’s a partnership, a more time consuming activity, or it provides valuable feedback to the park (an evaluation of a program or park as a whole). So they are worth more to encourage Junior Rangers to complete them. 

Flip through the pages and add up the total number of acorns cashed on the bottom of each page. If the Junior Ranger has done enough activities to cache at least 20 acorn points they have earned the park patch. If they have cached at least 40, then they have also earned the expert patch. Next, if you have time, please review all of the activities to ensure they are actually complete. If you are limited on time, at least review page 24 (“Learn in the Park”) and share with the person who presented their program (this is basically an evaluation of the park program!) and page 26 (Share your Park Experience) This is a review of the park as a whole! Next, have the Junior Ranger repeat each line of the Junior Ranger pledge (one line at a time) after you (found on page 32). Sign their certificate and give them their patch(es). A fun bonus is to have them wear a ranger hat and take a photo with a ranger and/or holding up their signed certificate. Please share any photos you take with Brittany so she can add them to the quarterly Junior Ranger newsletter. Email them to her at Brittany.Bartholomew@ncparks.gov You can also take photos of the Junior Ranger’s artwork in the activity guide to share in the newsletter too. Be sure to ask their permission before using any photos. Also, be sure to record handing out the patches in the I&E database. You can ask your I&E ranger or Brittany for more info if you’re not sure how to do this.

While it’s preferable that a uniformed ranger do this, any park staff member can do this so long as they know what they’re doing. Please have them read the answer to the last question to learn the procedure. It’s very possible that a Junior Ranger will approach any park staff member that they encounter in the park, so please have everyone (including seasonals!) informed on the program and how it works.

You can order more books through your park’s seasonal warehouse shipment from Jordan Lake. Please appoint one person to keep an eye on the number of books (typically the I&E Ranger, although this choice is up to the discretion of the park Superintendent) and be sure to order more through the warehouse BEFORE running out! 

Go to the Junior Ranger section of our website and print out copies of the PDF version to hand out until you get more. If your park is unable to print for whatever reason, email Brittany and she will mail you some. Brittany.Bartholomew@ncparks.gov. You should NEVER turn someone away empty handed if they request a copy of the activity guide!

We haven’t printed any in Spanish, but you can print out a PDF version in Spanish from the Junior Ranger section of our website.

Please appoint one person to keep an eye on the number of park patches (typically the I&E Ranger, although this is up to the discretion of the park Superintendent) and notify Brittany to get more BEFORE running out! It can take 1-2 months to receive more patches, so be sure your supply will last you. Currently, parks are responsible for paying for any new Junior Ranger park patches. You are free to use any park preferred fabricator to order more, or you can email Brittany and she can connect you with and start the process of ordering more through her preferred fabricator.

Any changes made to your patch is up to the discretion of the park staff, but should be run by Brittany before ordering. They should all be a 3” round, with the title “Junior Ranger” at the top, and your park name at the bottom to keep them as uniform as possible between parks.

Email Brittany with the quantity needed and she will mail them to you ASAP. The amount you request should be your best guess as to how many you’ll need to last you 6 months-1 year.

The Junior Ranger needs to email Brittany directly with one photo of all the patches they’ve earned and include their mailing address. If they have 10 patches Brittany will mail them the top “Learn” patch. If they have 20 they will receive both the top “Learn” patch and the side “Explore” patch. If they have 30, they will get the “Learn”, “Explore,” and “Protect” patches. And if they have 40+ they will get the complete set which includes the center heart patch.

ecoEXPLORE is a partnership that we have with the NC Arboretum. Through it, kids provide scientists with valuable information about the plants and animals found within your park. To participate they need to visit the website at www.ecoexplore.net to register and to learn more about the program. To earn their 3 acorn points for this, they just need to inform you that they have registered on their website and have provided ecoEXPLORE information about your park. While it is not required for kids to be at a “hotspot”, every park is considered a “hotspot” and will provide them with bonus points if they share content from your park. Kids collect those points to earn prizes through their website. They also offer badges for completing seasonally rotating specific challenges. The park does not manage any other aspect of this program. We only need to verify their participation to award them their 3 Junior Ranger acorn points. Regular updates about the current available badges that they can earn are included in each Junior Ranger Quarterly Newsletter (more info on the newsletter is on page 27).

Kids in Parks (KIP) is a partnership that we have with the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. It’s a free national program that connects families to the outdoors through hands-on exploration. Self-guided TRACK Trail activities and smartphone e-Adventures are available at each park’s TRACK Trail (every park has one). Speak with your park’s I&E ranger, or search their website if you’re not aware of where it’s located in your park (www.kidsinparks.com). Through the KIP’s website, kids can log their hike and earn points towards cool prizes. For Junior Rangers to earn the 3 acorn points for this activity please verify that they have logged a hike at your park on the KIP’s website. KIP activities and updates are included in each Junior Ranger Quarterly Newsletter (more info on the newsletter is on page 27)

Junior Rangers should be contacting the park well in advance to arrange some sort of community service project if they would like to complete this activity. Do your best to find an age appropriate project. Some ideas include trash pickup, invasive exotic removal, planting beneficial plants, simple trail work, or stuffing the back pocket of the Junior Ranger activity guides with the pocket activities that are relevant to your park (see the next question for more info). If the Junior Ranger shows up to the park expecting to complete this activity without calling ahead to arrange, feel free to turn them down if it’s not possible for you to arrange a service project at that time. If need be, refer them to where it mentions in the book to call the park ahead of time to arrange the project (in the opening paragraph on page 25). You can also reassure them that they should have no problem earning enough acorn points without doing this activity.

The activity guides are all the same for all of the parks. And although the experience Junior Rangers have completing each activity at each park varies because of how diverse each NC park is, they are limited and not specific to any park or event. So to mitigate potential boredom with Junior Rangers that have earned multiple patches, the pocket activities were created. Every year Brittany puts together an activity based on that year’s I&E annual theme. There are even pocket activities for the “Girl Scouts Love State Parks” event offered every year in September. In addition, some parks have worked with Brittany to create their own park specific activity for their park. If you’re interested in pursuing making a pocket activity for your park, read the next question for more info. Please be sure to print out and include all relevant pocket activities to your park in the pocket in the back of each activity guide that you hand out. I highly recommend doing this with all of your activity guides when you receive a new shipment from the warehouse. This way you don’t forget to include them. You can even offer this task to a Junior Ranger as a community service project to complete the “protect the park” section on page 25!

It’s a pretty easy process, but you will need to reach out to Brittany in order to start it. In general, we strive to have these activities structured the same way as the activity guides (ie a single one sided or double sided sheet with 1 acorn point for an easier activity suitable for non-reader/writers, and 2 for a harder activity suitable for older kids). Also, these activities can not require any supplies other than a writing utensil, but if they do require any other tools, they should be readily available to check out at the park office. Since there is limited space for educational info on these sheets, if there is content that the Junior Ranger will need to learn in order to answer the questions, it should be available somewhere in your park (typically on an educational wayside or pamphlet). Once you are happy with the content of your pocket activity and have discussed it with Brittany, she will then send it to Lizzie Tucker to design and make it look uniform with the other pocket activities and activity guide activities. It will then be added to the Junior Ranger website and will be ready for you to print and include in the pocket at the back of your activity guides.

It’s a quarterly newsletter that Brittany puts together for Junior Rangers. You can sign up for it at the top of our Junior Ranger website: https://www.ncparks.gov/education/junior-ranger-program

Of course! We’re always looking for park staff to share fun content for the newsletter! The content is always better coming directly from the park versus from the park education staff. Please submit to Brittany by email at Brittany.Bartholomew@ncparks.gov. The newsletter is typically published in March (Spring), June (Summer), August (Fall), and November (Winter). If your content is seasonal, please be sure to submit it the month prior to the season you would like it to be included in. And as always, we are happy to receive any photos you’d like to include. Especially ones of Junior Rangers earning their patches, but all photos are welcome!

It is a free camping event offered the first weekend in October for Junior Rangers and their families. The location of the event varies from year to year to accommodate all Junior Rangers across the state, and to feature a new park for the Junior Rangers to experience. There are a few required elements needed for a park to host the Jamboree, so not all parks can participate, but if you would like to see about having your park host the event, please reach out to Brittany to discuss.