See painted turtles, an ornate box turtle, red-eared sliders, a baby snapping turtle, salamanders, a frog and toad, a hedgehog, snakes, a tarantula, fish and more!
Topography sandbox
NEW for 2019! This augmented reality sandbox lets you create your own landscape and see how water moves through your watershed.
Glacial Landmark Tour
Jump on a fen, climb a kame, walk along an esker and end inside a glacier to dig for fossils! The interactive glacial landmark tour is fun for all ages.
See a replica osprey nest and osprey photo opp inside the nature center, and April-September watch the osprey nest and raise their chicks in Kenue Park.
Wallace collection
Other than the Smithsonian Museum, the Dickinson County Nature Center is the only public entity with rights to photos from Alfred R. Wallace's collection, found in an antique cabinet by an Okoboji native.
Kids Play area
Follow a trail of moon boots and stars, jump on the moon, view lighted constellations, play with nocturnal animals and create constellations on a magnet board!
Interactive, children's museum-quality exhibits include a life-size apple orchard with blossoms you can pollinate, a play food truck, a human-sized honeycomb climber and so much more!
Nature Store
Find unique gifts such as locally-made goat's milk soap, Okoboji Outdoors T-shirts, stuffed animals, pollinator costumes and more in the Nature Store! Conservation Foundation of Dickinson County members receive 10 percent off purchases.
Public programs
In addition to free admission, nature center educators also provide free programming year-round to the public.
LEARN MORE WITH THESE EDUCATIONAL HANDOUTS
Outside the center
In addition to the wonderful educational opportunities inside the Dickinson County Nature Center, Kenue Park also features geocaching, mowed trails through the prairie and around the wetland that is home to two rehabilitated trumpeter swans, an 18-hole professional level disc golf course, a fantastic Nature Playscape and paved trails that are a part of the Dickinson County Trails system.
