When it comes to national parks and historical sites, we tend to go to extremes. And we’re not ashamed of that. In fact, we wear it with pride.

While traveling around the States, we make it a point to include National Park Service sites (and UNESCO World Heritage sites at home and abroad) as much as possible. Indeed, we’ve been known to drive a few hours out of the way just to hit a National Historic Site or National Memorial. And in those adventures, the kids have become devoted Junior Rangers at dozens of different sites.

If you have kids, the Junior Ranger program is without question one of the best things you can do while on NPS property. Check out our in-depth look at the program here. So, on a recent trip across the northern border into Canada, we were of course curious if Parks Canada (their NPS equivalent) offered something similar. Turns out they do! The Parks Canada Xplorers program invites kids to become engaged with the various sites and explore them past a surface level.

And it’s fantastic.

Fort Anne NHS

Every participating site offers a colorful booklet full of relevant activities for kids (generally ages 5-13) to complete. Sites have different requirements (from a certain number of completed activities to “just do whatever you can”), and the activities are designed to immerse kids in the history, culture, environment, and natural resources of the location.

So what can kids expect? Activities run the gamut and include scavenger hunts, mapmaking, drawing, plant and wildlife identification, interacting with staff and living history reenactors, and so much more.

National park activities focus on the plants, wildlife, and geography of the park. National historic sites focus on the relevant people and events that made the place historic. All of them encourage kids to ask questions, discover hidden corners of the park, keep their eyes open, and be active visitors exploring the place in a way that’s much more exciting and educational than a passive (and potentially boring) walk-through.

In short, they become engaged with the park. It becomes an active, vibrant place that’s very much alive, and their experience with it is infinitely more memorable.

Halifax Citadel NHS

Cape Breton Highlands NP

Whereas NPS sites in the United States deputize Junior Rangers with a badge or patch, the “reward” for completing an Xplorers booklet is a dog tag (rubbery plastic or metal, depending on the location) with the park’s name and Parks Canada logo – in both English and French! There’s no “swearing in” ceremony (like when kids become Junior Rangers), but the prize is still incentive enough. The dog tags also come in a variety of bright colors, so collecting them very quickly becomes an obsession.

On our recent road trip through Atlantic Canada (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and New Brunswick), the kids managed to collect a full rainbow with 10 different dog tags. They wore them everywhere and attracted a LOT of interested questions and curiosity. There were a surprising number of Canadians who had no idea what they were!

L’Anse aux Meadows NHS

Fort Beauséjour NHS

There are currently 105 Parks Canada sites in 12 provinces that offer an Xplorers program. Not every Parks Canada location participates, though, so it’s a good idea to do a little homework before heading out. Check the list here to see if the site you’ll be visiting has an Xplorers program. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the lion’s share of sites are in Quebec and Ontario.

Depending on your kid, your mileage may vary with some of the programs, but my kids love it. The Xplorers booklets generally seem to be a bit easier than NPS Junior Ranger booklets. Whereas many NPS sites have different books for kids of different ages, Parks Canada sites have just one booklet for all kids, so they tend to skew a bit younger (and easier).

The time commitment is a bit lighter than many Junior Ranger programs (we found them to take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how many activities they complete), but it’s still a good idea to dedicate some time to the endeavor. Enjoy the process, and don’t rush it.

It’s an adventure, after all. And you’ll learn something, too!