Environmental Education Center
City of Plano

This outdoor classroom area is designed to engage children in exploring and interacting with the natural world as part of their daily life, helping to develop a lifelong sense of wonder. Our certified Nature Explore Classroom is a dynamic, nature-based play and learning space for family enjoyment. Children can enjoy digging in the dirt, creating music, making art with natural materials, climbing and more!

A recent addition to the Classroom is a metal caterpillar that was made entirely of repurposed metal. The caterpillar is positioned so children can interact with it and climb on it. Another wonderful addition is a huge bird nest large enough to walk in to. All the limbs used to create the bird nest were collected from a tree that was recently removed.

Located adjacent to a creek on the Environmental Education Center grounds, the Nature Explore Trail is an educational pathway that uses interactive signage to teach visitors about Plano’s creeks, their inhabitants and ways that residents of all ages can care for them. The trail was funded through a Texas Parks and Wildlife Conservation License Plate grant.

The trail also features a metal art installation of “Herbie” the blue heron. Blue herons are large wading
birds that are common in Plano’s creeks, and their survival is dependent on the health of their habitat.
“Herbie” was designed to visibly house plastic debris to demonstrate the impact of litter on wildlife and the environment.