Topsfield

Explore the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary after hours and join us for a night of camping under the stars. Have an early dinner at home, and then come with your family, your tent, and a dessert to share.

The Topsfield Fairgrounds will come alive with color, flavor and music for the 34th Annual New England Arts & Crafts Festival, featuring over 150 booths of American-made arts, crafts, specialty foods, live music and craft demonstrations.

Explore the beautiful Ipswich River with your family on a Saturday afternoon. We'll paddle this gentle river to enjoy the early fall foliage, observe the surrounding marshes, and bid farewell to the summer. Along the way, we'll stop to stretch our legs and enjoy some ice cream!

Join us for an easy midmorning stroll through the cool back woods of the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary. Our short walk will start among towering groves of white pine, where we will search for toads and salamanders. The trail will lead us to a wildflower-filled field rich with dragonflies and butterflies. A few steps later, we will encounter an old wooden bridge that spans the Ipswich River, where we will stop for a snack and look for ducks, geese, and maybe a snapping turtle!

Come learn how different birds build their nests and what natural materials they use. We will take a hike to look for nests and collect materials to make our own birds' nests.

This campout currently has a waiting list! Explore the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary after hours and join us for a night of camping under the stars. Have an early dinner at home and then come with your family, your tent, and a dessert to share. Join us as we explore the habitats of the elusive owls.

Explore the Ipswich River at dusk. Bring your family and join us for an evening paddle in a canoe as we learn more about the river and some of its inhabitants. Many kinds of owls "call in the night" with their hoots and screams as the sun begins to fade. As we paddle along, we'll look and listen for owls, talk about the types of owls we're likely to find at this time of year, and do some hooting ourselves.

Come explore with us as we examine a field and learn why crickets and grasshoppers sing, how they jump and eat, and what their similarities are. On our return, we will create and build our very own creatures from recycled materials.

Bring your young naturalist to the sanctuary this summer and experience the joy of books and the wonders of nature. Participate in hands-on nature-related activities inspired by the stories. Sign up for one or more of these adventurous programs.

We will construct a simple sailboat from bark and leaves, and then we will hike to the river to sail our tiny schooners. Using strainers and buckets, we will dip for organisms from the river's edge, look for evidence of beavers, and scan for birds from the observation tower.