About Us

Exploring Families offers its members terrific tours, fantastic field trips and spectacular special events helping kids and their parents explore, discover, and learn outside of school time and beyond the books. Additionally, members receive weekly e-newsletters informing them of community-wide public activities and educational events beneficial for families.  Most Exploring Families tours, trips, and events are in the Inland Northwest:  the greater Spokane area, Eastern Washington, and Northern Idaho.

Kelly Clark and her husband have been homeschooling their 3 kids since birth.  Kelly has been organizing field trips for her family for a long time and in 2007 started to invite friends and groups to join them, which eventually led her to begin Exploring Families.

Exploring Families offers its members:

• Field trips, tours, and special educational events open for all kids and their parents
• Customized trips, tours, and events just for your group, club or class
• Weekly E-newsletters containing community events and activities happening in the Inland Northwest that may be beneficial to families who like to explore
• An easy to use calendar of events listing Exploring Families activities plus community wide public events
• An archive of past e-newsletters

Exploring Families offers a wide variety of activities with a special emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) subjects for kids and youth. Kids love to hear from super scientists, terrific technology experts, exciting engineers, and marvelous mathematicians. Seeing STEM subjects in action and in the workplace sparks their curiosities and gives them valuable experiences when they eventually head into the job market.  Our hope is to get kids and youth (and their parents) excited about STEM subjects and to learn how important STEM is.

What kids and youth will learn about at STEM events and tours:

• What is STEM?
• What do STEM professionals do and where?
• Why is STEM important?
• How can young people begin to prepare themselves for a STEM career?
• How can families be involved in our community in a STEM way?
• What are the various elements of our local STEM environment?
• Why is it important for kids to learn and care about STEM in the Inland Northwest and beyond?
• How do kids and adults positively and negatively impact STEM in the Inland Northwest?

Come see how fun and exciting education can be with Exploring Families!

• Did you know there is a coral farm in Greenbluff, Washington?  (Is coral a plant, animal, rock, or something else?!?!)
• Would you like a hay bale ride at a working bison farm?  (Is a bison a buffalo?!?!)
• Where can you see the Spokane-Rathdrum aquifer in action plus a hidden waterfall only 15 minutes from downtown Spokane?  (What is an aquifer?!?!)
• Would you like a great rate on entertaining and educational movies at the IMAX theater?  (How big is the IMAX screen?!?!)
• Where can you see how custard is made?  (What is custard and why does it taste even better than ice cream?!?!)
• Have you ever seen a parrot play in a hamster’s rolling ball on the floor?  (Do all parrots like to play in balls?)

If these trips sound like the educational fun your kids are longing for, then you are ready for discoveries with Exploring Families!

 

Past and Future Tours, Field Trips, and Special Events

ACS Ponies & Petting Farm

Adventure Dynamics

Age of Elegance Traveling Trunk by the MAC

Albeni Falls Dam

Albertsons healthy eater tour

Apple Store tour

ArtFest

Audubon Society educational presentation

Auto Vue Theatre

Avista dams

bank

Beaver Presentation at Liberty Lake County park

Big Table

Bird Aviation Museum

Bird Store presentation

Bloodhounds presentation

BMX at Dwight Merkel Sports Complex

Bozarth Mansion tour

Buck Knives

Cabela’s tour

Canoe/Kayak tours

Carr’s One of a kind in the world Museum

Cat Tales Zoo

Cataldo Mission

Centennial Trail

Climbers with Christ

Cold Stone Creamery tour

coral farm

Costco bakery

CPR/First Aid Class

Crawford State Park and Gardner Cave

cross country skiing

Crystal Gold Mine

Davenport Hotel Historical Tour

David Thompson, Fur Trader Traveling Trunk

Downtown Spokane Historic Tour

Dynamic Gymnastics play structure

Eagle watching at Wolf Lodge Bay, Lake CDA

Earthworks recycling

Emerald Creek Garnet Area

Finch Arboretum

Fire Lookout Museum

Fire Station

fish hatchery

Four Mound Prairie Bison Ranch

geocaching

Glover Mansion tour

Golf course tour

Grand Coulee Dam

Granite Point Park on Loon Lake

Green Bluff

Guitar concert

Hallets Chocolates tour

Hells Canyon tours

Hike – Dishman Hills

Hike – Iller Creek

Hike – Liberty Lake

Hike – Little Spokane River

Hike – Mt. Spokane state park

Hike – Palisades/Rimrock/Indian Canyon

Hike – Riverside State Park

Hike – Schweitzer, scenic chair lift rides

Hike – Tubbs Hill

HUB Sports Center

Hutterites

Ice Palace

IMAX movie

Inland Northwest Blood Center

Interstate Batteries

Japanese Cultural Center

Jump and Bounce

Jump-n-party

Kid Sports Indoor Sports Facility

Kids Can Compost by a Master Composter

Kids In The Garden by a Master Gardner

Krispy Kreme

Lake Cruise

Laser Quest

Life Services tour

Livingstones Rock Ranch dig

Main Market Co-op tour

Malawi tropical fish store

Manito Park Walking Tour

Martine Woldson Theater at the Fox Historical Tour

McDonalds tour

Meals on Wheels Kitchen tour

meterologist presentation

Michaels art lessons

Mobius Children’s Museum

Mobius in Motion Outreach

Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens

Mukagawa Fort Wright Institute tour

Musicfest Northwest Young Artist Concert

National Bison Range

National Weather Service Office Tour

North Spokane Farm Museum

Northwest Expeditions

Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture

One World Spokane Restaurant Tour

orienteering

Outdoor Learning Center

P.E.T. Project (Personal Energy Transportation)

Paradise fibers store

Peak 7 Adventures

Pend Oreille County Museum

Petco pet care

Pizza hut

Planetarium

post office

Priest Lake Museum

Priest River Museum

radio station

Recycled Pop! Fly Trap by Rescue/Sterling Factory Tour

REI’s PEAK program / Leave No Trace

Reptile Man’s presentation

Reptile Store tour

Reptile Zoo

Riverfront Park Attractions

Riverview Bible camp

Route of the Hiawatha Rail Trail

Ruff Revue dog show

Rusty Roof’s restaurant tour

Shriners Circus

Shriners Circus

Sierra Silver Mine

Silver Cafe tour

Silver Mountain Snow Tubing Park

Silver Rapids Indoor Waterpark

Silverwood Theme Park / Boulder Beach Water Park

Sky High Sports – trampoline place

Sledding at Holmberg Park

snowmobiling

Snowshoeing

Snyder’s Bakery

Splash Down Waterpark

Spokane County Courthouse

Spokane County fair

Spokane County Sheriff Office tour

Spokane family dairy farm

Spokane Gymnastics

Spokane house

Spokane Law Enforcement Museum

Spokane Preservation Advocates tour

Spokane River Bridge Walk

Spokane Sculpture Walk

Spokane Sea Services Museum

Spokane Storytelling League presentation

spokane symphony 4th grade concert

Spokane Valley Heritage Museum

Spokesman Review newspaper

Stonerose Interpretive Center Fossil Dig

Surf ‘n Slide Water Park in Moses Lake

Tesselations presentation

The Green Zone

Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes

Train Ride along the Pend Oreille River

Triple Play Family Fun Park

Tubing – Bear Creek Lodge

Tubing – Mt. Spokane

Tubing – Silver Mountain

Turnbull Wildlife Refuge

TV station

Valleyford town tour

WA State Dept of Ecology

Wallace Museum

Wallace town tour

waste to energy tour

Waste water treatment plant

Water on Wheels

Well tour

White’s Boots

Wild Walls

Wild Waters Water Park

Wonderland Family Fun Center

WSP Communications Center

WSP scale weigh station/port of entry

Young Eagles Flight