The Anita Purves Nature Center, at the north end of Urbana’s Crystal Lake Park, opened in 1979. Today, we welcome more than 50,000 visitors a year!
Open M-F: 8am-5pm | Sat: 9am-4pm Admission is always free during open hours.
The main exhibit hall inside is called the Field Station. Here you can explore hands-on exhibits and meet the Center’s resident education wildlife (screech owl, box turtles, snakes, and salamanders). Visit the windowed Wildlife Observation Room to view wildlife visiting the habitat gardens that surround the Center. Stop in the Nature Shop, where you can find unique nature-related gifts. Proceeds from this store support local environmental education. Educators get a 10% discount. The Nature Center also has classrooms that can be rented for public and private events. Call 217-384-4062 for more information.
The Anita Purves Nature Center offers environmental programs on site and at other locations. (Programs for schools are correlated to Illinois state learning standards.) Request a program here: https://www.urbanaparks.org/programs/nature-programs/
Outside the Nature Center, visit the Friendship Grove Nature Playscape or the 59-acre Busey Woods natural area with boardwalk loop trail. Both are open daily from sunrise to sunset!
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1 Review on “Anita Purves Nature Center”
Admission to this nature center is free, and the exhibits offer something for everyone. Some of the exhibits are even in Spanish! The hands-on “Field Station” exhibit hall has lots to explore, including live animals to see. There is also a Wildlife Observation Room and a cute gift shop!