where curiosity meets the wild
Hands-on, curiosity-driven eco-education that helps kids fall in love with the Earth.
Choose your path to adventure
Find a Branch
Start a Branch
Where Curiosity Meets the Wild
Rugged Research is a hands-on, curiosity-driven eco-educational program that helps kids fall in love with the Earth.
Choose your path to adventure
Rugged Research is a hands-on eco-education program that helps kids fall in love with nature through science, wonder, and play.
We believe curiosity is the most powerful teacher, and nature is the best classroom.
What is
Rugged Research?
The Rugged Research Experience
Where curiosity meets the wild, wherever you are.
Step into the world of Rugged Research, where science and wonder walk hand in hand. Every rock, feather, and footprint is a doorway to discovery. Our classrooms have no walls and no fixed address. They might be a mountain trail, a playground, or a patch of grass behind a school, because the wild is never far away.
We bring nature education wherever kids are. Through in-school field trips, daycare programs, homeschool days, summer camps, and more, we turn everyday places into worlds of adventure. Children learn to observe closely, ask questions, and explore with curiosity - realizing that nature isn’t just somewhere you go, it’s something you’re part of.
What does that look like in action?
A morning might begin with a Micro Safari, where kids zoom in on the tiny worlds beneath their feet, following ants on secret trails, peeking under logs, and discovering the wild lives of bugs and beetles. Every step becomes part of a hidden adventure, where a fallen leaf becomes a rainforest and a puddle turns into a whole new world.
Our themes change with the seasons, from Mountain Magic to The Secret Life of Trees to Amazing Animal Adaptations, just a few of the many adventures that invite kids to look closer and fall in love with the living world.
Our approach is simple: let curiosity lead. When exploration is guided by curiosity, learning turns into adventure. Through that process, children gain confidence, creativity, and a sense of belonging to something larger than themselves.
This short clip above captures what we mean when we say, “Nature is the classroom.”
Where We Teach
From forests to schoolyards, our programs spark discovery, connection, and care for the natural world - turning every park, trail, and patch of grass into a giant learning laboratory.
Program Formats
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After- School In-School & Out-of-School Field Trips
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Summer Camps, School Break & Weekend Programs
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Homeschool, Preschool & Daycare classes
Flexible Scheduling
Programs can range from one-hour sessions to full-day, weeklong, or even season-long experiences — all customizable to your community, family, or organization’s needs.
How Do We Do it?
Our Mission:
Wonder. Connection. Nature
Before anyone asked them to save the the planet, we wanted them to fall in love with it.
Rugged Research was created by a group of park rangers, teachers, and wanderers who never stopped being curious.
We saw that the best classroom has no walls - and that a spark of wonder can become a lifelong bond with the planet.
Our programs aren’t about lectures. They’re about curiosity, mud-streaked joy, and that “aha” moment when a child realizes they belong to the living world.
How Learning Grows at Rugged Research
Our programs follow the S.E.E.D Learning Cycle -
a rhythm of curiosity, discovery, and care that guides every adventure.
spark
We awaken a sense of wonder and adventure.
explore
Kids investigate the natural world around them.
explain
They connect discoveries to science and ecology.
do
Curiosity becomes action as we care for the Earth.
Programs in Action
Bringing nature learning to every stage.
From preschoolers to teachers, Rugged Research offers hands-on programs that spark curiosity and connection wherever learning happens.
School Visits
We bring science, wonder, and play right into the classroom. Our in-school field trips turn lessons into living, breathing experiences that make nature unforgettable.
Seasonal adventures where kids dive deeper into discovery. Whether it’s summer camp or school break programs, each day is packed with exploration, science, and fun.
Camps
Little explorers, big discoveries. Through our daycare and preschool programs, young children engage their senses, build confidence outdoors, and start a lifelong love of nature.
Early Childhood
Workshops and training for teachers, caregivers, and educators who want to bring Eco-Ed into their classrooms. We share tools and inspiration to help nature-based learning thrive anywhere.
Professional Development
The Eco-Ed Difference
Hands-on, curiosity-driven learning that helps kids fall in love with nature before anyone asks them to save it.
At Rugged Research, we call our approach Eco-Ed - ecological education rooted in wonder, science, and connection. We don’t just take kids outdoors; we teach them through nature itself. Every lesson blends curiosity, discovery, and care, turning the world around them into a living classroom.
Wonder & Awe
Ecological Literacy
The spark that starts it all.
Understanding how life connects.
Curiosity Driven Learning
Embodied Experience
Questions lead the way.
Knowledge lives in the body.
Emotional &
Ethical Connection
Reflection &
Integration
Community &
Cooperation
Regeneration &
Action
Learning with heart.
Growing together.
Turning care into impact.
Experience becomes wisdom.
When curiosity leads, connection follows - and nature becomes our greatest teacher.
Denver / Boulder
Led By Hannah Romano
The Flatirons Branch
From city schools to the shadow of the Flatirons, this branch brings Eco-Ed to classrooms and canyons alike
West Michigan
Led By Breyer Kinzer
The Great Lakes Branch
Guided by the rhythms of Michigan’s shoreline, this branch invites young explorers to learn from sand, surf, and sky.
Metro Detroit
Led By Kimberly Mathers
Among maple forests and freshwater trails, this branch helps kids reconnect with the ecosystems just beyond their neighborhoods.
Eastern Kentucky
Led By Cassidy Cornett
Exploring the rolling hills, rivers, and hardwood forests of the Bluegrass State, where every leaf tells a story.
Start Your Own Branch!
Bring Eco-Ed to your community and help kids fall in love with nature.
Rugged Research branches are run by teachers, explorers, and nature lovers who believe curiosity can change the world. We provide the training, curriculum, and community - you bring the passion and your local landscape.
Every great forest starts with one seed.
The Story of
Rugged Research
It started with two park rangers and a simple idea.
That kids should fall in love with nature before anyone asks them to save it.
What began on the trails of Colorado has grown into a movement of educators and explorers helping students rediscover the wonder of the natural world.
Field Notes from the Wild
Real adventures. Real science. Real wonder.
Follow along on social media!
Follow along and help kids everywhere fall in love with nature!
