Springbrook Nature Center — Attraction in Fridley

One of the better convenient to get to nature centers in the north suburbs. Many trails and wooden walk paths over marsh and ponds. Abundant wildlife, and a nature center with activities for all ages of youth. I scheduled my cub pack nature hike there. In less than am hour we saw and heard cardinals, nuthatches, red winged blackbirds feasting on native cattail marsh reeds. Saw multiple bird nests, heard a racoon chirp cooing in the distance and even discovered the remains of a squirrel kill, that the naturalist at the center accounted to a grey fox. Since an owl would have eaten it whole, fur and all. There are tanks with live animals as well. And in warmer weather outdoor play areas and numerous interesting opportunities for all ages. The cost is zero, though good will donations are accepted. Highly recommended easy hour off the grid, surrounded by the sounds of our native...

I'm disappointed in myself for not checking this place out sooner for a few reasons:

It's free It's close to home It's nature and exploration based learning Having an indoor and outdoor area makes it accessible no matter what the weather is Did I mention that it's free?

There's a wonderful indoor exploration space AND outdoor one! We visited during the day on a Thursday and only saw couple other families during the time we were there.

We will be back, time and time again. We're already visiting for the second time, and our first visit was this morning. The boys (5yo & 6yo) absolutely love it here! Can't wait to check out the hiking trails once...

Took my 2 and 5 year old one hot afternoon and had a blast. The nature play area is totally shaded, water feature, mud kitchen, fort building, climbing, balancing, creative play, etc. The indoor nature center has a good amount of aquarium animals, creative play, educational (mostly nature, but it's sponsored by Xcell, so some energy stuff that was loosely tied to nature), awesome bird watching spot, animal puppet theater, etc. We wish we had time for the trails, they looked awesome.

They host summer camps. We got there around 3:45 and the lot was busy with pickups, but we had the place to ourselves. I'm guessing anytime prior to that it would've...