45 National Park Service Junior Ranger Programs in the Southwest Region (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX)
Summer is almost here, and it’s a great time of year to visit a National Park! In this post, I’m sharing all of the National Park Service Junior Ranger programs in the southwest region, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas!
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of our National Park Service. In particular, I love the Junior Ranger Program they offer. Our family vacations usually revolve around going to new parks and collecting more Junior Ranger badges for B and C. The parks are one of my happy places, and I love visiting them.
I’ve shared on Instagram a few times pictures of the various badges we’ve collected, and I often get questions about what this Junior Ranger program is. In a nutshell, the National Park Service offers a program (usually free, though there are a few exceptions) in many of its parks known as the Junior Ranger program. At participating parks, you can pick up a Junior Ranger activity book, usually at any visitor center. In these, you’ll find several activities and tasks your child will need to complete around the park or visitor center, sometimes based on age, to earn a Junior Ranger badge (or, in some cases, a patch) for that park. Once they’ve completed all the required tasks, they’ll present their booklet to a ranger, who will usually ask them a few questions about what they learned, then have them repeat a pledge, after which they get a badge.
There can be variations on this – some parks offer a patch instead of a badge or even give both for extra tasks. Some parks provide both an in-person version of their program and an online version. Some parks offer several different badges, either based on age or different topics (e.g., the Santa Fe Trail badge is offered at several different parks). No matter how it’s done, the Junior Ranger program is an excellent way to help your kids learn more about the parks you’re visiting and take home an extra little memento from their time there.
The Park Service does have a page with a list of Junior Ranger programs at different parks, but in the past, it has not been complete, and I like to see them broken down by state and region. I’m also including an interactive map so you can figure out which ones are closest to you. If you happen to be taking a vacation this summer in any of these states, I highly recommend stopping at a park to earn a badge! And if you’re planning on visiting multiple parks, look into getting an America the Beautiful pass (or a FREE pass for fourth graders and their families!), as it can definitely save you money!
In the list below, you’ll find links to all of the Junior Ranger programs at the various parks, either to the National Parks website or to a write-up I’ve made about our experience doing that particular activity. Please note that this is not a list of all the National Parks in the states listed, so if you want to visit parks that don’t offer a Junior Ranger program as well, check out the National Parks website. And if you want a way to remember your visits to the National Parks as well, passport books or this beautiful passport journal can be a fun way to keep track!
Arkansas
Arkansas Post National Memorial (Gillett)
Buffalo National River (St. Joe and Yellville)
Fort Smith National Historic Site (Fort Smith)
Hot Springs National Park (Hot Springs)
Little Rock Central High School (Little Rock)
Pea Ridge National Military Park (Garfield)
President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site (Hope)
Louisiana
Cane River Creole National Historical Park (Natchez)
Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (Chalmette, Eunice, Lafayette, Marrero, New Orleans, and Thibodaux)
New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park (New Orleans)
New Mexico
Aztec Ruins National Monument (Aztec)
Bandelier National Monument (Los Alamos)
Capulin Volcano National Monument (Capulin)
Carlsbad Caverns National Park (Carlsbad)
Chaco Culture National Historical Park (Nageezi)
El Malpais National Monument (Grants)
El Morro National Monument (Ramah)
Fort Union National Monument (Watrous)
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (Glenwood)
Manhattan Project National Historical Park (Los Alamos)
Old Spanish National Historic Trail
Pecos National Historical Park (Pecos)
Petroglyph National Monument (Albuquerque)
Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument (Mountainair)
White Sands National Park (Alamogordo)
Oklahoma
Chickasaw National Recreation Area (Sulphur)
Oklahoma City National Memorial (Oklahoma City)
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site (Cheyenne)
Texas
Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument (Potter County)
Amistad National Recreation Area (Del Rio)
Big Bend National Park (near Terlingua)
Big Thicket National Preserve (Kountze)
Chamizal National Memorial (El Paso)
Fort Davis National Historic Site (Fort Davis)
Guadalupe Mountains National Park (Salt Flat)
Lake Meredith National Recreation Area (Fritch)
Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park (Johnson City)
Padre Island National Seashore (Corpus Christi)
Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park (Brownsville)
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park (San Antonio)
Waco Mammoth National Monument (Waco)
Multi-Sites
These Junior Ranger badges are available at multiple sites across states and/or require visiting multiple sites.
El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail (TX, LA)
El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail (NM, TX)
Santa Fe National Historic Trail (NM, OK)
Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail (AR, OK)
We’ve got some of the New Mexico badges, but quite a few of these are still on our bucket list. If you’ve been to any of these sites, which was your favorite?
