Prairie Ridge Ecostation is an awesome wilderness park that has so much to offer! It’s an extension of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences that encourages outdoor play and exploration. You’ll definitely want to bring a change of clothes for the kids to this one – they will get messy!
Our favorite spot – The Nature Playspace
Our favorite area of the Ecostation is the Nature Playspace. Once you park in the gravel parking lot, you have to take a short trail to your left through the woods until you reach the playspace. The trail is stroller friendly for the most part, but watch out for snakes since you’re walking through the woods!
There’s an outdoor kitchen and tent right before you get to the outdoor amphitheater. I’ve never actually seen anything happening in that amphitheater, but I bet it’s used for field trips when they have them.
Right past the amphitheater is the main portion of the nature playspace. There’s an underground tunnel the kids always run through and also areas for messy art, sand digging, and a giant water table.
The outdoor classroom
Unfortunately there’s no bathroom at the nature playspace. The closest one is up another short trail to the outdoor classroom building. The bathroom is only one toilet so if you’re with a group you’ll have to take turns. It’s also up some stairs, so not stroller friendly in that aspect, but you can park it outside the classroom and you should be fine.
The one cool thing is that the outdoor classroom is basically a big open room with a deck overlooking the birdhouses. If there isn’t a program going on it’s fun to explore and watch the birds! I also liked that it was enclosed so I could let the baby roam free!
Now, walking back from the outdoor classroom isn’t the best. There’s a gravel trail that will take you right back to the parking lot instead of having to go back through the nature play space, but it wasn’t very stroller friendly. I’ll be glad when I no longer need my stroller!
Other things to do
From looking at the website, it appears there’s a lot more you can do at the Prairie Ridge ecostation, although we have only ever been to the play space. If you continue along the Forest trail it looks like you will eventually come to a creek, tree arboretum, garden, and wind turbine.
Don’t forget to try out the Nature Stories program on Thursdays at 10:30 am. Check our calendar for more events at Prairie Ridge!
Pros
- lots of outdoor nature activities
- bird watching
- bathroom available
Cons
- not stroller friendly
- watch out for snakes
- gravel parking lot