The Children’s Discovery Area at Sky Meadows State Park is an outdoor space especially designed to introduce children and families to the wonders of nature and the unique agricultural history of the park. If you’re looking for a fun diversion to go along with your family picnic or school field trip, the Children’s Discovery Area has fun learning opportunities for all ages.

First Certified in 2018, The Children’s Discovery Area at Sky Meadows State park is a Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom

1. Nature Explore Certified Outdoor Classroom

The Children’s Discovery Area is certified as a Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom and was the first of its kind in the state of Virginia when it first received certification in 2018. The park's certification has been renewed annually, and means that the Children’s Discovery Area meets certain criteria for natural design, maintenance, staff training and family involvement in nature education opportunities. In other words, this outdoor play area is thoughtfully designed and maintained to provide children with natural space and materials, to engage them in a way that is both fun and educational.

Part of a 75-Acre Outdoor Laboratory, the Children’s Discovery Area is an ideal starting point for children and families to engage with the natural world.

2. 75-Acre Outdoor Laboratory

The Children’s Discovery Area resides within a large meadowland space utilized by the Shenandoah Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists. Families and children can appreciate being a part of this natural landscape, where educational research and stewardship projects by the Master Naturalists are part of an ongoing effort to maintain the delicate ecosystems of the park. These efforts include projects such as bluebird monitoring, invasive plant pulling with the Virginia Native Plant Society and The Sensory Explorers' Trail. Volunteer Naturalists also conduct guided programs at the park, such as tree identification walks. For upcoming programs, visit the park’s online events calendar.

This “Trail TRACKer” earned the cool sunglasses band by logging her TRACK Trail adventures online.

3. Kids in Parks TRACK Trail

The Kids TRACK Trail is part of an extensive nationwide program that encourages children to get outside and incentivizes them with fun prizes for tracking their adventures at kidsinparks.com. The Sky Meadows State Park TRACK Trail is an easy .7-mile, well-marked loop that serves as a great introduction to hiking for beginners of all ages. There are several TRACK Trail brochures located at the trailhead kiosk as well as at different play stations in the Children’s Discovery Area. Children and caregivers alike will have fun choosing a different brochure each time, to guide their exploration of the trail. They might even be inspired to visit other Kids TRACK Trails across the state and nation, to earn more prizes and to build on outdoor skills such as map reading and applying the Leave No Trace Principles.

The Kids in Parks TRACK Trailhead

4. Engaging Play Stations for Make-Believe and Learning

The Children’s Discovery Area is divided into six stations, each easily navigable with the help of park trail junction posts (just like you’ll find on our other park trails. The Orchard, Poplar Art, Barnyard Band, Animal Athletes, Farm Field Fun and Frontier Settlement stations each offer materials and space to inspire the imagination. Highlights include materials for digging, building, making art and music or whatever games the mind of a child creates. You might find that the loose walnuts lying around are just as fun as the other components of the play area.

One of the play stations invites children to build a “Frontier Settlement.”

5. Convenient Access to Other Park Resources

The final fun feature of the Children’s Discovery Area is the accessibility you’ll discover to the rest of what Sky Meadows State Park has to offer. You’ll begin at the picnic area, where two large picnic pads; one covered and one uncovered, can accommodate up to 60 visitors each. These large areas can be reserved ahead of time by calling the Virginia State Parks Reservation Center, and the smaller individual picnic areas are first-come first-served.

The picnic area at the park is adjacent to the Children’s Discovery Area, and the shelter can be reserved for family or school gatherings.

At the picnic area, you will find convenient pit-toilet restrooms and you are only a .8-mile hike or drive from the park’s Historic Area with flush-toilets, running water and baby changing stations. Also in the Historic Area, the park’s Visitor Center has a selection of packaged snack foods, park souvenirs and nature exhibits. Kids can also check out Discovery Backpacks or grab a Junior Rangers book. If they complete the activities in the book, they will be sworn-in as official Sky Meadows State Park Junior Rangers.

Children can be proud of their Sky Meadows State Park Junior Rangers badges, when they complete the course of study and meet the requirements to be sworn protectors of park resources.

The Children’s Discovery Area at Sky Meadows State Park was made possible thanks to the generous contributions of: Garden Club of Virginia's Centennial Project, Northern Virginia Hiking Club, Virginia Master Naturalists: Shenandoah Chapter, Friends of Sky Meadows and Nature Explore's Outdoor Classroom project.