Want this info as a spreadsheet? Click here!

Indiana isn’t a particularly large state. . .unless you are chasing Junior Ranger Badges for the state as a whole.

We visited the first national park at the top of Indiana two years ago when we were in South Bend for the International Jugglers’ Association Convention.

We visited the last parks just before Christmas when we were in the lower part of the state visiting my dad’s hometown and some family there.

There are only 4 national parks in the state. It’s easy to tack Indiana Dunes onto a visit to Chicago. And the rest can be added with some extra driving to a trip to St. Louis.

Indiana Dunes

The downside of this park is that summers are short, and the park gets really crowded with locals alone during the right weather. In order to actually walk on the beach, we had to drive at least 30 minutes and park at an adjacent beach outside of park property. When the park cleared out, we had enough time to drive around some parking lots inside the park, but not enough time to climb the stairs to get over the dunes.

If you are particularly fond of railroads and are aware of the train camera at Chesterton, it’s a great stop slightly out of the way. If you can’t hike the dunes, it’s a nice consolation prize.

You can print the regular badge booklet. A few favorite pages are matching animals to their tracks (This National Park Memory Game has helped us!) and labeling the Michigan lakes.

There is a special Fire Safety badge for the dunes. There are certain days available for a class where you can earn the badge. Check your calendar. The class was not available either weekend we were in town, so they mailed the children the booklet to complete.

You can also complete a Night Explorer booklet. We did not pursue this as we got itt a few years ago in the Dry Tortugas. You can download and print this ahead of time, but I don’t know the process of getting the patch. (Note: This is not a badge, but a patch.)

George Rogers Clark

The booklet is printable for your appropriate age group and can be returned by mail. However, the online booklet is slightly different. I didn’t see it, but they claim the one at the site was a little easier. There are just 5 pages in the printable that are quite simple. Answer questions about where you are from. Write or draw what you see and hear. Circle what you think they carried. The rangers are proud to provide you with pencils to complete the booklets. Should you have the extra minutes and want to take the chance, maybe getting the book from them will be a better experience.

Watching the video is required. It was longer than most. Maybe 20 minutes? It had already started when we got in there, so it wasn’t the full time for us. It was informative about a historical event that we mostly forget about after history class and wasn’t exceptionally graphic having been produced by The History Channel.

In case you aren’t used to northern weather, we learned that the park opened late that day due to unsafe parking conditions thanks to snow.

As long as you’re in the area, check out the beautiful President William Henry Harrison house, open only certain days. We listened to an audio talk in the car. The phone number is on a sign outside the house.

Lewis and Clark

This is a booklet that we could not get ahead of time, but is available in multiple locations. So, you can get it in one spot and return it later if that fits into your schedule. It’s really simple with a “map/design your own trip,” code to break with pictures, and labeling the Native Americans in on the map. It was easily completed even by my dyslexics.

Lincoln Boyhood Home

This is not Lincoln’s birthplace. It is not his Springfield home where he lived as an attorney. This was in between where he lost his mother. It is a fascinating place with a wonderful staff. In fact, one of the ladies we met was an actress in the park film a few years ago. Ask for her autograph and make her feel special!

We also enjoyed measuring ourselves (and our shoes!) against President Lincoln’s. While this place must be amazing in the summer with its working farm, the children were perfectly happy being there after a fresh snow. It was relatively quiet and absolutely beautiful.

We contacted them for the booklet ahead of time. It has a word search, crossword (with word bank), fill in the blank (with word bank), and questions to answer about his mother’s tomb stone. Ironically, we learned in our history email later that week that actor Tom Hanks is a relation. We love how all our history “classes” tie together!

This was an incredibly special trip to us for a number of reasons. We hope our experience will help your family build wonderful memories, too.


Want this info as a spreadsheet? Click here!