
Education Programme
Aims of National Parks & Wildlife Service's Education Programme:
- To promote respect, understanding and care for heritage and particularly for the natural world.
- To encourage the development of environmentally friendly practices.
- To inform the public about the National Parks & Wildlife Service and their role in conservation.
Dark Skies Day
Spend 2/3 hours exploring our skies and space through hands-on activities such as
- Presentation on “Mayo’s Dark Skies”
- Sky Map Introductions
- Stellarium tutorial
- Make my school Dark sky friendly
- Choose a Dark Sky Activity
a) Rocket Shop or
b) Space Craft - c) Light Pollution & the environment
Approved Discover Primary Science Centre
www.primaryscence.ie Spend 2-3 hours visiting Wild Nephin National Park Visitor Centre with your class. The first hour will be comprised of a tour of the interactive exhibition and visiting the outdoor classroom. The second hour will be a choice of one of the following DPSM approved experiments:
- Cleaning Dirty Water
- Kitchen Detectives
- Make a bird feeder and simple bird bath
Bog Detective Challenge
- Viewing of the exhibition.
- Presentation on bogs/peatlands, the main habitat in Wild Nephin National Park with special emphasis on the plants and animals found within this habitat.
- A hunt to find mini-beasts using pooters.
- Examining the wild plants of the bog.
- Pond dipping to see what mini-beasts live in our pond.
How to Book
EDUCATION CENTRE IS OPEN FROM APRIL TO November.
Bookings can be taken by email ballycroyvisitorcentre@npws.gov.ie
Please note that our diary can fill up very quickly. If you wish to book a place, ring as early as possible.
We only take bookings by phone (098) 49888
Supervision
We require groups bring at least one adult leader per ten children with a maximum group size of 30.
These leaders are responsible for the supervision of the group.
For the National Parks & Wildlife Service Code of Behaviour for Child Protection please click here
Practicalities
- Minibuses and coaches can drive up to the visitor centre and park in the designated bus parking spaces.
- Visitors are advised to bring full rain gear and suitable footwear and to bring a spare pair of clothes.
- How to Find Us: The Visitor Centre is located in the village of Ballycroy on the N59 road between Mulranny and Bangor Erris. View map here.
- Important Note: As many of our activities take place outdoors, visitors are advised to learn about Lyme Disease, information can be found on this link.