Thirteen Head Start preschools from across York County visited the Reserve on numerous occasions this past year to experience the great outdoors and make exciting wildlife discoveries. They came in the fall, winter, and spring seasons to hear a nature-based story, meet a variety of animal puppets, create a related craft to take home, and walk the trails while engaged in scavenger hunts and sensory adventures.

In total, thirty-five interactive programs reached more than 150 children and over 170 of their caregivers. Over 100 participating families ventured home with copies of the storybooks, finger puppets, gas cards to help with travel expenses, Rachel Carson's Sense of Wonder, and free passes to the Reserve's Punkinfiddle Family Festival and National Estuaries Day Celebration. Many of the families had never been to the Reserve before. Below is a sampling of the positive feedback we received through written evaluations of the program:

• We loved the warm welcome and wonderful staff. Nature walk was very informative and children loved it. Story time had all the children engaged and happy. Great experience.
• Thank you for helping to keep our children connected to nature and giving them somewhere to explore our past/present/future.
• Great presentation! So much enthusiasm and joy. Made it really fun for the kids.
• Very thankful to have this experience.
• My daughter has an absolute blast. She loves it!
• So informative and fun. My son loves coming here.
• Interactive and age appropriate. Fabulous!
• Kids loved the nature walk and scavenger hunt!
• This has been a wonderful opportunity for our class!
• Very well designed program.
• It's wonderful, peaceful, and my kind of place to bring my children!
• I love that we receive books all about nature and animals.
• We love coming to Laudholm. The atmosphere is warm, friendly, and right at the children's level. The puppets were a great addition to the story and enjoyed by all.
• Love getting my child exposed to the natural world we live in.
• I thought it was great how excited the kids were to search for the cards along the trail. It made exercise and learning fun for them.
• I love the story and how the contents are related to the area we live in and the season.
• This is a fantastic field trip. It's a perfect combination of fun and learning.
• It is a great place to discover nature and get exercise. Great job everyone!
• We are so happy with this program. Everything was excellent.

Our most heartfelt thanks go out to the numerous funders who made these Head Start programs possible:

• Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation
• Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust
• Sam L. Cohen Foundation
• Leonard C. & Mildred F. Ferguson Foundation
• Maine Community Foundation
• Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust
• Pratt & Whitney
• An Anonymous Funder