Home Historic Sites Limberlost State Historic Site Scouting Guide

LIMBERLOST STATE HISTORIC SITE

SCOUTING GUIDE

Scouting Guide

Earn Badges and Explore the Natural Playground and Laboratory That Inspired Gene Stratton-Porter

Limberlost State Historic Site offers Girl Scouts the chance to earn badges and explore the Limberlost Swamp that inspired the acclaimed articles, fiction and photographs of Gene Stratton-Porter. Whether your troop is earning badges in history, nature or science our programs and experiences are designed to be both fun and educational.

Call 260.368.7428 to reserve your visit.

Planning a Scout Trip

Pricing and Reservations
For tour reservations and pricing details, please call 260.368.7428Please note that some programs may have group pricing or require advanced booking.

Meeting Badge Requirements
During a visit to the Limberlost State Historic Site, Girl Scouts will be able to accomplish the following badge requirements. Download the full guide for more details.

 

DAISY

DAISY TRAIL ADVENTURE

Step 3 – Outdoor aventure: It’s time for the best part—your outdoor adventure! (utilize the trails at the Loblolly Marsh)

ECO LEARNER

Step 1 – Be prepared to protect nature before you go outdoors:Girl Scouts know it’s important to be prepared! When you go outdoors, take water and maybe a snack. Wear sunscreen and dress in layers. (That means you can take layers off if you are too hot, or add them if you are too cold.) Find out what kind of plants and wildlife you may see and how to treat them. Be prepared to not only keep yourself safe, but keep nature safe, too! (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 2 –Keep living things save when you walk in nature. (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 3 –When you toss a snack wrapper on a trail, how long do you think it will last out there? If you guessed hundreds of years, you are right! Not only is trash a mess, it’s also dangerous for plants and animals outdoors. Trash may damage plants and soil and cause health problems for creatures that eat it. Find out how you can make a difference. (outdoor grounds exploration)

GOOD NEIGHBOR

Step 2 – Discover your city or town:In your city or town, neighbors work together in lots of different places. These places help make sure everyone has what they need. How many different places can you think of? (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 3 – When you toss a snack wrapper on a trail, how long do you think it will last out there? If you guessed hundreds of years, you are right! Not only is trash a mess, it’s also dangerous for plants and animals outdoors. Trash may damage plants and soil and cause health problems for creatures that eat it. Find out how you can make a difference. (Tour)

BROWNIE

BROWNIE TRAIL ADVENTURE

Step 5 – Go on your outdoor adventure: Make your adventure an experience you’ll remember forever—add fun games, take videos, or keep a journal! (utilize the trails at the Loblolly Marsh)

ECO FRIEND

Step 1 – Think of ways to help the outdoors:As a Girl Scout, you know it’s important to protect nature when you’re outdoors. If you remember to be respectful of the environment whenever you’re outside, you’ll be a friend to nature forever!  (Outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 2 – Observe outdoor spaces:If you think of yourself as a guest in nature’s home, it’s easy to remember that objects in nature should stay where they are. When you visit a friend’s house, you wouldn’t pick up something you liked and take it home without permission. And everything in nature is there for a reason, too. In this step, you’ll buddy up with some friends and an adult, and go outside to a place where you can see things in nature like rocks, leaves, shells, and fallen branches.  (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 4 – Take care of wildlife: If you’re an animal lover, this will be fun for you! Caring for wildlife is very different from caring for pets, but they can still use your help. Find out how you can help wild animals in this step. (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 5 – Practice being kind:It’s important to be kind everywhere you go, but especially in the outdoors. Practice your outdoor kindness skills in this step. (outdoor grounds exploration)

BUGS

Step 4 – Explore bug homes: It isn’t just the bugs that are cool. The places they live are fun to explore, too!

Step 5 – Take a bug field trip: The best place to view creepy critters is to go outside where they live! Take a trip to get up-close with your bug friends. (outdoor grounds exploration)

OUTDOOR ADVENTURER

Step 2 – Explore nature: Nature is the hundreds of plants and insects you see when you hike a trail. It’s the puffy clouds in the sky. It’s the sound of frogs croaking. It’s the smell of flowers. It’s the way a worm feels slimy when you touch it. Nature is awesome. It’s surprising. Sometimes it’s even weird. Let’s explore it! (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 5 – Care for the outdoors: Find an outdoor space you love, and think about how to make it even better. Outdoor adventurers are champions of the world outside!  (outdoor grounds exploration)

HIKER

Step 5 – Go on your hike!:You have your map, your backpack and your new hiking skills. You’re ready to go now! (utilize the trails on and around the site)

MATH IN NATURE 1

Step 1 – Track natural objects: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 2 – Graph natural objects: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 3 – Make a spiderweb with symmetry: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 4 – Explore tessellations: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 5 – Collect data about birds: (outdoor grounds exploration)

MATH IN NATURE 2

Step 1 – Explore temperature: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 2 – Measure the length of leaves: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 3 – Graph your leaf data: (outdoor grounds exploration)

MATH IN NATURE 3

Step 1 – Calculate the age of a natural object: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 5 – Graph data about birds: (outdoor grounds exploration)

JUNIOR

JUNIOR TRAIL ADVENTURE

Step 5 – Go on your outdoor adventure: Make it a lifetime memory—add fun games to your adventure, take action videos, or keep a goal journal. (utilize the trails at the Loblolly Marsh)

ANIMAL HABITATS

Step 1 – Find out about wild animals: Wild animals may seem very different you’re your pets at home, but at one time, all animals were wild! (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 2 – Investigate an animal habitat: One habitat can contain lots of different animals-you might think of it as a city in the wild kingdom. (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 5 – Help protect animal habitats: you can take steps to protect animals’ homes and prevent them from becoming endangered. (outdoor grounds exploration)

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHER

Step 2 – Take tons of photographs: (outdoor grounds & tour)

Step 2 – Share your photos: (outdoor grounds & tour)

FLOWERS

Step 1 – Uncover the science of one flower: Scientists called botanists track the history of different kinds of flowers. Become a botanist and figure out how, when, and where one flower was first bred or found. Learn about when it blooms and what it looks like. (Gene’s garden exploration)

Step 2 – Look under the petals: Flowers aren’t just pretty. They may look like they aren’t doing a lot, but they’re actually quite busy! (Gene’s garden exploration)

Step 3 – Find out how flowers help people: Not only do flowers have a lot going on inside of them, but they do a lot for people. (Gene’s garden exploration)

MATH IN NATURE 1

Step 1 – Identify symmetry in nature: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 2 – Explore bilateral symmetry in nature: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 3 – Create nature-inspired art with circular symmetry: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 4 – Find fractals in nature: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 5 – Search for the Fibonacci sequence: (outdoor grounds exploration)

MATH IN NATURE 2

Step 3 – Explore the circumference of trees: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 4 – Search for shadows: (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 5 – Find the area and perimeter of plants: (outdoor grounds exploration)

CADETTE

CADETTE TRAIL ADVENTURE

Step 5 – Go on your outdoor adventure: You’ve planned and trained—now you’re ready for your outdoor adventure! Make it memorable by keeping an adventure journal, shooting videos of your experience, or trying a new activity along a trail. (Utilize the trails at the Loblolly Marsh)

ANIMAL HELPERS

Step 5 – Look at how animals might help us in the future: (Outdoor grounds exploration. Utilize the Loblolly Marsh)

NIGHT OWL

Step 2 – Take a field trip to explore the night: Find information about life after dark. (Outdoor grounds exploration-utilize the Loblolly Marsh)

Step 2 – Explore nature at night: From Planets to constellations, from moon flower to evening primrose, from bats to owls to anacondas, some parts of the natural world come alive-or only appear-at night. (Outdoor grounds exploration-utilize the Loblolly Marsh)

TREES

Step 1 – Try some tree fun: What better way to get glad about trees than to spend some time with them? Head outside and enjoy the bounty, shade, and delicious fun of trees. (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 4 – Explore the connection between people and trees: Food, inspiration, and oxygen aren’t the only ways trees benefit people. Fuel, medicine, and shelter are also crucial to the tree-people connection-crucial, and anything but simple. Naturalists know all the moving parts surrounding their subjects, so here’s where you get the whole context of the tree relationship. (Outdoor grounds exploration)

SENIOR

ADVENTURER

Step 1 – Enhance your adventure: Choose your adventure activity and find a location that will offer possibilities for a trip of at least two nights. (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 4 – Plan your service to the great outdoors: Combine the natural environment and service to tother into your adventure or help other GS before or after your trip. (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 5 – Capture the adventure: Time to set out! Choose a way to capture the amazing days. (outdoor grounds exploration)

ECO EXPLORER

Step 2 – Explore biodiversity: Biodiversity refers to the variety of plant and animal species in an area. It’s a delicate balance of living things that all work together. When species become extinct—or new species are introduced—it can create problems in the environment. Take a trip to explore biodiversity in this step (outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 3 – Investigate a global ecosystem issue: As you learned in Step 2 of this badge, biodiversity refers to the variety of plant and animal species in an area. An ecosystem includes plant and animal life, but also refers to nonliving factors such as climate, soil, and water. Dive into an issue that affects the global ecosystem in this step. (Outdoor grounds exploration)

Step 4 – Plan a trip to explore and work on an issue: Now that you’ve talked to an expert and explored some environmental issues, think of one issue you’d like to explore further. Plan a trip to investigate your issue in person and come up with a hands-on way to make a difference. Your trip or series of visits could take place at the local level or farther away—whichever works best for you and your family. (Outdoor grounds exploration)

AMBASSADOR

PHOTOGRAPHY

Step 1 – Explore the power of photography: (Tour)

Step 2 – Focus on composition: shoot five landscapes (Grounds)

Step 3 – Focus on light: shoot five portraits or still lifes (Tour & Visitors Center)

AS you EXPLORE

  • As You Arrive

    • What do you notice about the buildings and land around you?
      What do you notice about the buildings and land around you?
    • Who would have lived here 100 years ago?
      Who would have lived here 100 years ago?
  • During Your Visit

    • What do you see? Have you seen something like this before? How is it the same or different?
      What do you see? Have you seen something like this before? How is it the same or different?
    • If you were a kid back then, what would you do?
      If you were a kid back then, what would you do?
    • What is the coolest thing you see?
      What is the coolest thing you see?
    • If you were an inventor, what would you create?
      If you were an inventor, what would you create?
    • Why do you think this site was preserved for people to visit?
      Why do you think this site was preserved for people to visit?
  • After Your Visit

    • What are the top three things you found interesting?
      What are the top three things you found interesting?
    • What surprised you?
      What surprised you?
    • Share what you discovered with your family or troop.
      Share what you discovered with your family or troop.

BOOK YOUR SCOUTING TRIP TODAY

We look forward to welcoming your scouts to the Limberlost State Historic Site, where art, nature and history come alive. Call us at 260.368.7428 to book your trip or send us an email at the link below.