Focus On… Exploring Our State Parks

Agents of Discovery
Colorado Parks & Wildlife partnered with a gaming app to make state parks more fun for kids this summer. Thirteen Colorado state parks offer kid-focused “missions” through Agents of Discovery, an educational mobile gaming platform, downloaded from the App Store or Google Play, that creates augmented reality trail missions.

Missions are free to play and, once downloaded, do not require Wi-Fi or a data connection.

What kinds of “missions” are in the app?
There are a variety of things for kids to do using the Agents of Discovery app. These include directions to follow on a prairie nature trail at Jackson Lake State Park in northeastern Colorado, lessons about wildlife at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, and tests of what you know about water at Ridgway and Mancos state parks.

There is also a scavenger hunt, information on the night sky, steps to becoming a junior ranger and more.

Backpacks add to mission
Colorado State Parks and local libraries also have backpacks filled with information and tools, such as binoculars, notebooks and magnifying glasses, to help young park visitors get to know the park. Libraries have waitlists for the backpacks, but the backpacks are also available at the parks.

State parks connected to the app:
Barr Lake, Brighton
Chatfield, Littleton
Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs
Crawford, Crawford
Eleven Mile, Lake George
Jackson Lake, Orchard
Lake Pueblo, Pueblo
Mancos, Mancos
Ridgway, Ridgway
St. Vrain, Firestone
Staunton, Pine
Steamboat Lake, Clark
Trinidad Lake, Trinidad

To learn more about the “Check Out State Parks” Program, visit cpw.state.co.us/librarybackpack.