New Pond Farm

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Birthday Parties

We are proud to offer educational birthday parties. The program topics offered vary by season. All of our programs are hands-on and active, keeping your child and his or her guests involved throughout the program. Parties are available for children turning 4 and up and the program will be adapted to suit the age group of your guests.

Birthday parties are offered after-school during the week, and on weekends, September through June.

We have modified our birthday parties in order to maintain a safe environment for everyone, and we are so happy to still be offering outdoor educational celebrations for our members!

General Information:
  • Birthday parties include a one-hour program and use of our outdoor picnic area or covered porch for 30 minutes following the program.
  • You will have 30 minutes before and after the program and party to set up and clean up.
  • For safety reasons, balloons and pinatas are not permitted on the property.
  • Cost is $125 for current Family Members of New Pond Farm Education Center.
  • Please contact us to discuss seasonally available programs.
Covid safety protocols for birthday parties:
  • Maximum of eight children, including birthday child and siblings.
  • Masks are required for everyone ages 3 and up.
  • In order to maintain a small group size, parents of guest children should not join the group but rather drop off or enjoy a walk on our property during the program and party.
  • Hand wipes and sanitizer will be available during the program and party.
  • We ask that parents follow Redding public schools’ protocol by taking temperatures before bringing children to the farm.

For more information or to schedule your celebration, please contact Gwen Denny, gwen@newpondfarm.org

Naturalists (turning 4 & older)

A round of light chores including bringing a cow into the barn for a closer look and feeding our small flock of chickens and collecting their eggs, we will also meet our calves and sheep.

Add a beeswax candle craft for  $2 per child.

Young art enthusiasts will enjoy creating a beautiful New Pond Farm inspired craft of their very own.

Our craft options will vary by season and age of the participants.

Materials fee dependent on the chosen craft

Travel the woodland path to our authentically recreated encampment, complete with a thatched long house and bark wigwam. Sit by the fire on deerskin-covered logs and explore ways that our local tribes lived off the land.

Learn about shelters, food gathering, hunting, cooking, clothing, and the roles of family members. Guests will have a chance to cycle between fur scraping, corn grinding, and game plying stations.

Add a clay pinch pot or dream catcher craft for $2/child.

Your child and guests will participate in each step required to transform Sugar Maple sap into sweet maple syrup. We will the Native American ways of sugaring, ID and tap a maple, visit the sugar shed to watch the evaporator at work, and taste a few delicious maple products.

From Stream to pond to marsh, learn about the wide variety of animals that live in the water. With strainers, we will carefully collect (and release) live specimens from our marsh like tadpoles, dragonfly nymphs, and water beetles.

We will also visit with native program animals that can be found in these habitats. We will introduce children to the importance of wetlands and their protection.

Did you know that we have a fascinating collection of living reptiles? Guests will meet a gentle Bearded Dragon, cricket-munching geckos, tortoises with great personalities, and even our program-friendly snakes. This is a fantastic program for a budding naturalist.

This is also our rainy day alternative program.

Explorers (turning 6 & older)

“Naturalist” programs can be customized for this age group

Our 102-acre property is a wonderful wildlife sanctuary. Depending on the season, our young explorers may track animals in the snow, or take a wildlife walk, searching for signs that our wild neighbors have left behind.

We will pay a visit to Bernard, our resident Barred Owl, and learn about his amazing adaptions as a nocturnal predator, and we will dissect his pellets to see what he’s been eating.

Rubberize an egg, turn milk into glue, and see if you and your friends can figure out how to squeeze an egg through an opening smaller than it is wide.

We will learn all kinds of magic tricks from the kitchen during this program.

Limit: 8 participants
Materials fee: $20

This is a special chance to enjoy a fishing session at our pond. Rods, nets, and bait will be provided for all fishermen in this catch and release program.

Parents should know that we will be using sharp hooks and that the instructor/parent will be baiting the hooks for all participants.

Limit: 8 participants 

This will be the party that your friends will never forget! They will put on full bee suits and join our veteran beekeeper to learn about the fascinating workings of a beehive! Worker bees, drones, the queen, nectar, pollen, wax, and honey…there is so much to see.

You will learn why honeybees are so important to our food supply and of course, sample some delicious honey.

Bee suits will be provided for participating children, please be sure to check with your guests about bee allergies.

Limit: 8 participants
Additional staff fee: $40

Adventurers (turning 10 & older)

“Naturalist” programs can be customized for this age group

Did you know that the art of fly tying dates back thousands of years and that fly tying blossomed in both Europe and America in the 1880’s?

Come join us and introduce yourself to a skill that has been passed down from generation to generation. While you are at it, bring a friend or two and learn to tie a basic fly and bring it home when you are finished.

Limit: 8 participants
Materials fee: $5 per child

Join our expert fisherman for a fly-casting lesson. Children will be taught the basics of fly-casting.

Fly rods will be provided.

Limit: 8 participants

In this fantastic hands-on program participants will carefully build their own rockets, then head out to one of our fields for an exciting countdown and launch. Rockets may be taken home.

Limit: 8 participants
Materials fee: $25 per child

Become a Citizen Scientist and discover the amazing field of forestry research. Study a specific plot in our scrub and shrub area that was affected by Super Storm Sandy.

Use equipment just like a professional forester and help us to monitor the succession of this important wildlife habitat, all equipment will be provided.

Limit: 8 participants

What’s more fun than an old fashioned treasure hunt? After learning how to use compasses and how to read a map, participants will head out to the pastures to find and collect their clues, which will be used to solve a puzzle leading them to a final destination.

The Birthday Host may provide prizes for the end of the hunt, or the goal can be reaching the birthday cake.

Limit: 12 participants (4 teams of 3)

If there is a program topic you are interested in discussing, we are happy to tailor a program to a child’s interests. Our wide variety of habitats and resources offer many possibilities. Please call to discuss optional ideas.

Please Download Our Birthday Brochure

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