Imagine your typical classroom. Now imagine that classroom without walls, a ceiling or a floor…welcome to Outdoor Education (OE)!  Mother Lode is excited to offer a wide range of outdoor education programs for students and teachers.  Come learn about the California Gold Rush or about the importance of the river banks along the American.  Our programs are designed with age appropriate lesson plans, with a focus on hands on learning, exploration, and HAVING FUN!  We can adjust our activities and lesson plans to tie in concepts being discussed in the classroom.

Our 20-acre facility is located on the banks of the American River and is uniquely structured to support the campus-like feel of our outdoor educational programs.  Students can spend the day learning about a singular theme or rotate through stations covering a variety of different outdoor education topics.  This flexibility allows us to pair outdoor educations with some of our other programming like the ropes course and rafting.  Please contact us to discuss all of the possible program options.

Possible OE Itinerary (Gold Rush)

-Arrive Mother Lode
-Introduction and expectations
-Morning Rotations thru activities at Mother Lode

  • Native Plant Walk, Acorn grinding, cornbread baking, gold panning, journal writing

-Break for lunch
-Head down to Marshal Gold Discovery State Historic Park

  • Tour of museum
  • Hike the trails
  • Visit miners homes and businesses
  • Explore where gold was first discovered in California

-Wrap up activities and debrief day