Medina County offers free Discovery Backpacks

People connect to forests in a special way. No matter our age, there is so much they can teach us. The Medina County Park District is offering tools through new Discovery Backpacks that visitors may borrow to explore the lessons of the forest.

Discovery Backpacks are designed for anyone looking for a bit of adventure. Families can plan an afternoon with grandchildren, couples can enjoy a nature date, and teachers and homeschool families can enhance lessons with hands-on exploration.

Discovery Backpacks: Forestry are available to borrow during normal business hours at Oenslager Nature Center and Susan Hambley Nature Center.

The backpacks are intended for all ages and experience levels, including parents, grandparents, teachers, homeschool families, couples and children.

Each backpack includes tools to help visitors discover the forest in new ways, including binoculars, jumbo magnifiers, pressed leaves, pocket wildlife identification guides, a measuring tape, flashcards and more.

Three topic binders are available to use with the backpacks: Introduction to Trees, Forest Ecology and Math in the Forest.

Backpacks are free to borrow and may be used on park property at Alderfer-Chatfield Wildlife Sanctuary and Brunswick Lake.

To borrow a backpack, visitors should stop by the office at either nature center during normal business hours. Staff or volunteers will assist with checkout. Borrowers are asked to leave car keys, which will be securely stored until the backpack is returned.

Backpacks must be borrowed during normal business hours, remain on nature center property and be returned by 4 p.m.