A Family Guide to the Urban Ecology Center at Riverside Park (2023)

If your family loves to hike, the Milwaukee area is filled with easy options that all ages can enjoy. We rounded up an epic list of easy hikes for kids around Milwaukee.

The Urban Ecology Center at Riverside Park is an absolute gem amid its urban surroundings.

You can spend an entire day here with your children exploring the building and the surrounding park.

In this blog post, you’ll find must-see features of the building and surrounding area, fun facts, and more.

Main Floor:

• Find the secret entrance that leads to the two blue slides. (Hint: you have to go outside to access it!)
• Visit the turtles, snake, and frogs in the Native Wisconsin Animal Room. Join a public animal feeding every Saturday at noon!
• Check out a board game at the front desk using wooden leaves hanging by the entrance.
• Play the fiddles (ask for assistance).

• Complete the giant floor puzzle of S.E. Wisconsin.

• Read the nature-based children’s books. Block, drawing supplies, and other children’s activities are available, too.

Upper Level

• Find the hidden classroom. There are four large murals with 80 animals camouflaged within in. Can you find them?
• Explore the green roof garden.
• Climb the observation tower!

Outside

• Discover the wildlife in the rain-water pond.
• Play on the Habitat Playgarden with a sandbox, spider web, & otter slides. (Northeast corner of Riverside Park.)
• Find the archway made of found iron & steel. (Northwest corner of UEC building.)
• Discover three sculptures entitled “Walk like a River.” (Hint: The first one is just behind the UEC building.)

• Explore the forest and walking paths west of the footbridge.
• Discover the huge stone archway at the entrance of the Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum. (You can see the archway from the entrance of the UEC building if you look southwest.)
• Take a Walk of 3 Billion years, a walking path marked with rock sculptures as high as seven feel tall that tell the geological past of Wisconsin. Starting at the building, go west until you see the first cairn made of 340-million-year-old stone at the gravel drive that leads to the warehouse. Follow the winding path until you find the ninth and final stone structure that’s made from rock over 3 billion years old.

Fun facts to impress your kids:

• The wrap around porch on the second level is made of wood scraps from the construction of the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
• The climbing wall is 40 feet tall.
• An arboretum can be defined as a “living museum of trees.” The Milwaukee Rotary Centennial Arboretum kiddie corner to the UEC building is home to 70 trees indigenous to Southeastern Wisconsin.

Visit the Urban Ecology Center website or chat with the front desk staff to learn about early childhood and family programs.

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