Fairview Farm is a 170-acre wildlife preserve, and the perfect outdoor classroom! With over five miles of trails, a pond, meadows, forest, and a bird and butterfly garden, there is plenty to observe, discover and experience. Our beautiful farm setting can host upwards of 150 students at once, with ample bus parking, picnicking areas and restroom facilities.
Our historic barn complex includes three classrooms, and a large covered gathering area. Our Brick Cottage is wheelchair accessible, with a full kitchen and bathroom facilities.
Our Field trip programs are perfect for an entire grade level, a single class, a homeschool group, a scout group, or any gathering of people that would like to learn more about nature!
For more information, contact Director of Education, Lauren Theis
Our Classic Field Trip Program
Groups rotate to your choice of program stations throughout the day! Depending on the number of stations you choose and the duration of your field trip, each activity lasts in duration from 20 to 45 minutes. Typically a program from 10 am until 1 pm works well, and includes a 30 minute picnic lunch break (BYO lunch!). An energetic, hands-on day of educational fun!
Program Choices
Fun with Fossils
Students develop an understanding of how fossils form and how we can benefit from studying them by interacting with real fossils that were locally collected. Students help demonstrate the process of fossilization by making their own mold and cast fossils!
Rock On!
Students develop an understanding of their geological context, how rocks form, and the different types of rocks that are created by touching and interacting with unique rocks from NJ to around the world. The group will take a scavenger hunt to find local rocks and features. What stories can they tell us?
Climate Change: The End of the Ice Ages
Students will examine casts from Ice Age animals to discover how fauna have changed over the last 14,000 years. Learners are guided through questions to recognize how both climate and European influence altered the population demographics.
Nature Journaling
Start a nature journal of your very own! Students receive a blank journal that they personalize with the guidance of our staff, using art and written descriptions to document their experiences. Students take these journals home with them to continue their explorations!
Nature Hike
Enjoy a guided hike with a trained naturalist on sections of our beautiful trail system. Students will cross different habitats, using their senses of sight, hearing, smell and sometimes touch to make observations about nature!
Pond Ecology
Exploring the trail around Fairview Farm’s pond provides many opportunities for wildlife observation, and to study the habitats in and around the water. Students learn about aquatic ecosystems, and observe first-hand some live benthic macroinvertebrates, tiny critters from the stream bed!
Our Native Pollinators
Explore Fairview Farm’s bird and butterfly garden, a colorfully alive space filled with native plants that provide food for birds, nectar for butterflies, leaves for caterpillars and habitat for many species of pollinators and other critters. Students learn about the butterfly life cycle and then “become” butterflies to learn about migration through a fun, hands-on game.
Birds of New Jersey
Learn about some of our native feathered friends, their life cycle and their role in the ecosystem. We will start with some identification techniques and then use binoculars to observe the birds that call Fairview Farm home!
Tracks and Scat
Learn to see the stories that surround us by utilizing traditional methods of tracking. We will go over the various methods of locomotion that animals use, and the different signs they leave behind. By using our observational skills we will search for signs of animals and open our eyes to the vivid stories of nature!
Animal Adaptations
Students learn how aquatic animals have adapted to their unique environment, and use creativity to design an imaginary creature perfectly suited for a watery habitat.
The Water Cycle
Students learn about the water cycle–a critical concept in watershed conservation. In a fun, energetic game, students become water droplets traveling through the water cycle!
Super Soils
Students examine the composition of different soil types found in New Jersey to learn what soil is made of and how soil type affects vegetation and habitat. A visit from an alien from Planet Zog reminds us how special the soil of planet Earth really is!
Life on the Forest Floor
Explore the forest floor in our outdoor classroom, looking under logs, stones and leaves to find and identify creatures in the leaf litter and under the soil! Compare the shapes and life cycles of these critters to those we find at the “Pond Ecology” station.
Tremendous Trees
Working in pairs, we’ll get a closer look at trees using our senses. By interviewing a tree and imagining its “life story,” students will creatively explore why trees are so important to humans and how we relate to them.
Grasses and Grains
Explore Fairview Farm’s beautiful meadows, examining different types of grasses, herbaceous plants and wildflowers. We’ll study the different types of plants in this unique and sensitive habitat, and discuss their similarities and differences.
Going, Going, Gone!
Through a hands-on activity, students examine different ways soils can be eroded. They’ll learn how proper stewardship of the land results in less erosion and better ecosystem health.
Helping the Climate
Students learn how climate change impacts our watershed, and are empowered to act in ways to decrease their own carbon footprint.
Contact Director of Education, Lauren Theis, for pricing and to book your program!
ltheis@raritanheadwaters.org or (908)234-1852 x314
Financial assistance is available.
