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We are so excited for our event tonight! We're taking over the Children's Museum and you're invited to join us for an incredible night of fun activities, music, food, and more. Grab some dinner, drinks, and dessert from food trucks by Gigi's Mexican Peruvian Fusion, Jozarelli's Italian Street Food, and Frozen Delight. Then, vibe to the Desert Music Project playing in the courtyard at 6 p.m., next let the kids explore the museum to learn more about our Sonoran desert with stories, games, and activities. Mr. Nature will perform at 7 p.m. inside the museum to round out the evening! There's also the raffle with some amazing gift baskets you can win.

If we saw you at the Children's Museum on Wednesday night, thank you for attending. We had a ton of fun and hope you did, too! It was a jam-packed evening and we sincerely appreciate each and every one of you for being there. In case you missed it, we livestreamed the entire evening! Watch our livestream video and you can see

The Cooper Center is taking over the Children's Museum Tucson! Kids can experience stories and activities that highlight the amazing natural world all around us.  when we takeover the Children's Museum! Grab some delicious food and drinks from our food trucks and enjoy live music while children can participate in games, stories, and activities throughout the museum that emphasize the amazing desert all around us! 

Connecting with nature is not just something we preach at the Cooper Center, we also practice it. Our team was recently invited to visit the Tucson Botanical Gardens to tour the grounds with Director of Horticulture, Adam Farrell-Wortman. It was amazing to see the work that Adam has put into every corner of the gardens. As we toured through the various sections highlighting different ecosystems and biodiversity, each member of our team jumped at the chance to experience the diverse range of botanical scents, colors, and textures on display. 

Cooper Center Program Coordinator Brittne and Education Specialist Isaac report in on the work they've been doing in Mexico, and their experience at Resplandor International. How can we begin to explain the experience we walked into? We came with the goal of running a successful pilot of Cuidadores de la Tierra (Earthkeepers) in Mexico for the first time. From the moment we arrived in Guanajuato, Dr. Todd Fletcher and his wife Veronica Alatorre Palacios, welcomed us into their home and treated us like family.

Teachers! Sign-up now for Camp Cooper Fall 2022/Spring 2023 field trips! Every year, the Cooper Center provides our outdoor desert education programs to thousands of students and our calendar tends to fill up! We're also offering a limited number of school visits and virtual field trips for those who are unsure about in-person experiences at Camp Cooper. Don’t miss your chance to bring your students to experience our Sonoran Desert classroom!

This summer camp focuses on the importance of practicing kindness and compassion to one another and to all living things. These concepts are also at the heart of Camp Cooper’s educational philosophy, making this collaboration an excellent way to promote being kind to desert plants and animals and each other.

To round out the day’s events, Camp Kind was introduced to Cooper Center ambassador animal, Momo, the Cooper desert tortoise! Children had the opportunity to offer Momo fresh greens which he happily and hungrily ate while Rocky, Ben’s Bells resident courtyard squirrel watched from close-by.

Tucson Metro Chamber’s spring edition of their quarterly publication, The Chamber EDGE, mentions the Cooper Center. The article details Bayer AG’s strong connection to the Tucson area both through Bayer Crop Science agricultural innovations, and through the Bayer Fund grant funding. Cooper Center was awarded a Bayer Fund grant in 2021. Director Colin was also interviewed for the article and points out the direct impact funding has on providing children these positive experiences in the Sonoran Desert, supporting Cooper staff and ecological programs.

Do you know a child who had an incredible experience at Camp Cooper and who would be comfortable talking about it on camera? We're producing some video content this summer and we need some SUPER STARS!

We are looking for elementary students who have recently visited Camp Cooper as part of a field trip and had an amazing experience while learning about the science and nature of our incredible desert. We're filming later in July for videos that will be used in promoting our programs and in our fundraising efforts.

If you know someone who might be interested, share this info with them!