Very nice grounds with mill ruins, trails, creeks and the Middle Patuxent River. Surprised by how few people were there on a Sunday. Didnt go inside the center but it looks like a great place for visiting in the future. Very fun toddlers and childrens area with natural elements to play and explore.

They are open with a one way route through the center. I was there for a beekeeping seminar which was adjusted for Covid compliance. So good to be with people! Outdoor trails are informative.

We loved our visit today. It is clear that they have made tremendous adjustments due to Covid19 but even so it is an amazing place for the little ones. Our daughter is 4 and she had a great time, and we didnt even get to do half the activities available.

We only walked one of the trails but it was a very pretty walk... There were many others and the noises they made destroyed some of the tranquility... But all, in all, well go back again... The visitors center is very nice (from a previous visit) has a rustic atmosphere... Go for the planetarium nights...

This nature preserve is beautiful and the paths are well maintained. It was a little busy as others seemed to have similar needs to leave their quarantined house for a spell. People were good about keeping their social distance but we decided to go in the afternoon next time to hopefully avoid the morning enthusiasts exercising in the cooler air.

Gorgeous hidden gem. Great for families and anyone interested in nature.

A wealth of resources and programs for young children, nature trails and environmental gems. Beautiful setting, nice souvenirs, and fantastic programs for kids. Totally worth the trip.One little hitch I forgot! Whilst I totally enjoyed looking for all the rich, environmental resources I could explore as a teacher, the three desk personnel never lifted their heads up from their activities to greet or ask if I had questions. There were however lots of great pamphlets so I could read about what the center offered.

A wonderful space for learning and observations for all ages. I do wish the staff member who led our group hike was better prepared with her visual aids, projector equipment and overall presentation.

Well-kept, well-labeled trails. Made a few laps to get a good workout, and thoroughly enjoyed the views. Saw a young class on the trails, looked like a great educational experience.

The center is very clean and has nice spaces to do activities. I like all the butterflies and flowers that were out front.

Great place to bring the kids to play around and learn. My son loved it. I need to come back again.

Nice facility for easy nature walks.

Loved this place! So much fun things to do with the family and we werent even able to get to the outside trails yet. We decided to get the yearly pass for 50 bucks, which I think is a great deal.

Beautiful outdoor space with lots of different species of trees and plants. Very easy to get to from the path. Great place to go for a long walk and bring your dog.

Great place for the family. Kids can play in the river. Very clean and safe.

Wildlife Loop Trail was overgrown and muddy, not as much fun as South Wind was.Addendum: I hope I didnt give the wrong impression, my dog and I had a wonderful time and it was beautiful! Actually, I thought the review I was leaving was on the Alltrails app! Thank you to the MPEA staff, and all who maintain the trails.

Staff were enthusiastic in showing the great possibilities for many future visits. Truly a marvelous Howard County Gem. PS: the gift shop has nature goodies that are definitely unique!

Beautiful area, great for families.

The Robinson Nature Center has both a wonderful indoor facility as well as many acres of outdoor activites, learning centers, and trails. The trails are well-cared for and have informational signs. I especially enjoyed the many events the Center hosts for families!

Very nice, informative museum, kids can benefit a lot from it plus have very good time! Staff can be more nicer.

Whoa this was waaay cooler than I thought it would be. It really blends art and nature in an interesting and beautiful way. Visit any time of year and youll experience all four seasons and why theyre important to the ecosystem.

Very nice nature center with very large meeting rooms that they rent out for special occasions. We were there for the graduation party. We were able to tour the nature center on our own and view the great exhibits.

I really like this place.. Its short and sweet, but they seem to have special little displays/ events set up regularly. If you are looking to visit for educational purposes there is a lot you could do here. I do wish they offered their local membership fee to military families though..:(

Robinson Nature Center is great for kids and adults alike. With a (free!) natural outdoor play area (think logs, rocks, dirt), paths, and a river, you cant go wrong outside. Inside there are rooms to learn about different wildlife and kids can even have hands-on time with some of the animals. There has often been an adult reading books to children when weve been there. Highly recommend!

So excited to explore the nature center now that we moved right down the road. Brought my family who was in town visiting. Lots for my 18 month old niece to do, especially in the kids room. Exhibits were very well done. It was mid July and too hot to do much trail walking so will need to come back!

Plenty of trails to walk and explore with the kids. Do yourself a favor and go in May when the flowers are in bloom. Truly a blessing.

Its disappointing that in such an affluent county this nature center charges for admission. This should be free to the public as should all parks in Maryland.

This is our favorite nature center. Great location and never too crowded. They usually have something fun going on. The kids always enjoy the discovery room on the entry level and we enjoy the hiking trails. Also, be on the lookout for a number of fun event days and camps that they do throughout the year.

Great place for the kids and even the adults!

We had such a good time, exploring the forest and visiting the observatory. I was the fir a conference to learn more about a nature pre school.

First time here. We went for a birthday party. My 2-year-old had lots of fun indoors and outside. Plenty to do!

A great place for kids. We took ages 4-14! The have sensory friendly bookbags at the ticket counter. It was filled with all sorts of fidgets for my daughter! We will go back again.

Very nice exhibits. We went for a kids birthday, which they apparently do. The staff were super-great with the kids!

Always a fun activity.

Great place for a quick hike!

It makes me sad every time I see this. Isnt it awful that they cut down forest and bulldozed land, paved parking areas and trails, and called it a nature center. I see chainsaws clearing dead trees and branches, labels on things, signs, pavement. A great place to go if you want to look at nature from a distance. I have pictures (true or false, I dont know) of gardens sprayed with herbicides, of bug spray, of chemical cleaners, of wanton environmental damage in the name of a nature center. I suggest going up river to a more natural area and walking some minimally maintained trails.Reply to owner: So maybe call it a Day Care Center, Planetarium, and Play Area rather than Nature Center? I do believe, very strongly, that it sends the wrong message that people create nature with bulldozers and chainsaws. What we badly need, I believe, is Half Earth left to nature, not all of earth bulldozed and redesigned by man and half of that renamed nature. I worked in nature centers and environmental education for many years, and I believe that they are an effective way to expose people to the natural world and to promote ways of maintaining our society and way of life while protecting the natural world that we depend on for air, water, food, life, stress reduction and relaxation. My gripe is not in what you do, it is in the destruction of the forest, bringing in bulldozers and chainsaws, spraying herbicides, all sorts of practices destructive to what the name implies the facility is there to promote and protect. There are so many places that have already been developed that could have been converted to environmental education centers, there was absolutely no need to level more forest, to pave more earth, to contaminate more soil and water and air, for a pretty modern building in which to expose people to what was destroyed to build it!

Originally came here with, a friend to do our college papers on rocks, Tectonic plates, and creatures in their natural habitats. We started off inside,(geared toward younger kids, or students or high school students in a biology class.) where there is an interactive and hands on display if animals and how they live. and ended up back outside where the trails are located. There was some construction at the time, that eliminated a walking trail. We did not mind however as my friend and I were lost in the beauty of nature. We did not realize how much fun we had until we realized 3 hours had passed!My take: if a visitor to the area on a nice day. Depending on the ages of visitors you may finish inside rather early. Then head outside to the trails. Although long, they have been maintained so even young children and those with disabilities will have an enjoyable time.

A fantastic place for kids (and adults) to get a fun view of their natural world. Lovely staff and beautiful building and grounds. Well worth the nominal cost.

Friendly staff, good education programs, lots for kids and adults to do. Well worth the trip.

Very informative for the kids and I. Definitely worth the money and very inexpensive. A great deal and a fun way to spend the day learning.

Love Toddler Time here: the staff and volunteers are wonderful!

Never been inside. Only seen from a distance when visiting the neighborhood and know much about it from Hoco parks and rec. One dayvkiddo and I will get to see a planentarium movie thing again togetger. Super good..i think UDVAR hazy has cool things too..in va. Too far :)

Went for waterday. Park is nice with a river your kids can play in. Lots of birds and turtles to look at. Great place to bring a small child

Well run. Good paths to explore. The nature center has diverse learning opportunities for all ages.

I wish there were more stars available! We love RNC for its every day activities for our family as well as special events and even birthday parties. Our daughters 5th bday was here and it was such a unique and stress free experience. Everyone working here is just so passionate about what they do and they make your experience amazing! As a reference, my kids are 3 and 5 and weve been coming here since my oldest was 1.

Wonderful staff. Excellent activities.

My daughter loved this place!! So many things to do. My only complaint is the outdoor section. It was missing a lot of the game pieces.

Discovery room and outdoor play area is great for toddlers! Gorgeous space!

Great place for kids to explore, lots of trails too

Great place to go for a little walk, lots of activities for children to take part in.

Great first visit!My family and I attended a high school graduation party here & had an amazing time. The venue was attractive and spacious. The children had a great time exploring the nature trail. I enjoyed reading the history facts provided. Overall, we all had a great time at this location.

Absolutely loved the Toddler Time Event at the Robinson Nature Center! We went in October, so the theme was spooky creatures and my son loved all the spiders, bats and snakes. Very accommodating given to kids under 2 and we are certainly hoping to make it back for the November event.

We love Robinson Nature Center. Its a wonderful place for children and adults. Plenty to do and learn.

Love the outside area for kids and the beautiful trails! The inside area is interesting but kind of small. It doesnt take long to go through.

Hidden gem right off the highway with walking trails and educational programs for all ages. Enjoy a day with the family and take a picnic basket for lunch.

My Daisy scout troop helped plant trees at this place. They taught the kids how to plant, took them on a hike, and then the kids played. It was a lovely day, we learned a lot, and had a good time.

Loved it so much that we bought a membership halfway through the visit.The outside area is under a canopy of trees, and perfect for connecting with nature and pretend play... and the touch tank was a real hit (it is open weekends at certain times). Kids truly enjoyed toys that were nature centered, as well as the puppet show area, chalk area and the large exhibit that had native wildlife scenes, repeatedly excitedly hurrying through it with me chasing them.I look forward to visiting there with them weekly this summer

The Discovery room is fantastic for kids! We took our toddlers and they loved the rest of the nature center as well, but they spent the most time in the Discovery center. There were costumes for them to dress up in, plenty of nature related toys, lots of educational stuff for them to get into, and while we were there they took out some of the starfish and urchins for the kids to touch and learn about. Kids under 3 are free, so our family of four spent a few hours there for only $10.

Really nice place for younger kids to walk the trails and visit inside the nature center

Spent an hour in the discovery room and had so much fun we didnt even get to see everything else before it was obviously nap time! We cant wait for next time. And we met some awesome new friends. Looks like a great place for kids of all ages, even babies. Bring a picnic! Lots of nice tables to eat at in the garden.

Refreshing nature place. A few animals. Love their planetarium shows. And the trails are real nice to hike.

Very cool place for little kids!!!

Went with my clients, they had so much fun learning about nature. Staff were very helpful. Clean facility, bathrooms were spick and span!

Nice place to visit. Interesting displays. Of course you have to filter out the the political save the whale tree hugging propaganda that comes along with real science observations. I had a discussion with one of the guides and this was his perspective. May not have been the perspective of the Center.

Love it. great for big and little kids alike

Great place to take the kids for environmental enlightenment. Only drawback is that some of the interactive exhibits are a tad too tall for some tots.

Wow what a place! Great programs...actual center well laid out for looking and really nice nature trails...good accessability... great staff

The building is fancy, but it presents many artificial depictions of nature. The outside paths are not really exciting. You can find similar paths all around Columbia for free. There is absolutely nothing natural about spraying pesticides which warrant yellow caution signs on the property. Its also across the river from a big chemical company.Its pretty and artificial which is rather fitting for Columbia. Skip this place, and spend the day at Brookside Gardens in nearby Montgomery County.

It is awesome

Great place to check out on a nice day

Not a bad place, but not as much to do as I would hope for. My two year old twins seem to have a good time there but get bored quickly. The yearly membership is fairly inexpensive, so is daily. Five dollars per person for a single day or fifty dollars for a yearly family pass is very reasonable for what they offer. Some of their special programs which are usually free or discounted for members have been very enjoyable for both younger and older children.In response to the comment from Robinson Nature Center. I dont think there are any issues with the Activities provided. I just think my children are not old enough to fully utilize the activities that currently exist.

Beautiful visitors center with lots of activities for children. Nice walking paths in the forest.

Always wonderful here. Super friendly staff, clean environment and great outdoor area for kids.

Great place to have a long walk together with a family member or friend but in some area, there were trash scattered on the ground.

My son went on a field trip there in April, the guide was very informative and very good with young children. The only thing that I was not fond of was where we had lunch. It was on the floor in what seemed like an emplee lunch room with the tables and chairs moved. Other then that we had a great experience.

Great place for families! Wonderful staff & summer camps!

Lovely, clean, informative. Great place for a party of any kind. Cool interactive exhibits. Great for kids and adults. We came in from Philly for a party and was impressed.

Be careful, this place is full of nature.. but really its a pretty awesome place, easily one of the better nature centers

I didnt tour the internal area beyond the gift shop, but did enjoy the trails around the center. The water bottle refilling station was much appreciated as I had biked up to the center from Owen Brown. Staff there was courteous, despite my being soaked in sweat.

Went to Family Friday Night Under the Dome (planetarium) and it was great! Kids loved the presentation and the movie.

This place is wonderful. A good place to bring kids while still having things to do.

Educational. Very clean. Friendly staff. Cute gift shop. Very well put together. Lovely trails that sparkle with mica (mineral rock).

Nice little nature center with both indoor and outdoor activities for kids.

Wonderful time at a birthday party!! A unique and amazing time for the children!! The staff were kind, caring and so enthusiastic!!

So many great things for kids and grown-ups to enjoy, both indoor and outdoor!

Great place to bring your family. It has a ton of activity’s for the whole family to enjoy heck it out and you’ll understand what I am talking about.

Wonderful, easy to understand exhibits. Showed ways to work with nature, and not disrupt things so much. My grandchild loved it!

Beautiful facility and amazing staff. Made out daughters 3rd birthday party absolutely perfect!

This place was peaceful and beautiful! A must go with your kids!

Really great. A short walk down to the river. Very scenic. Will definitely be back

They take care of their animals better than any other nature center Ive seen. Good educational programs and displays.

Stopped by today and we will definitely be back! It was quiet for a Sunday afternoon. The staff was warm and helpful. David ran the touch tank exhibit for us in the discovery room and was great! He was very patient with the kids making the whole experience very educational and fun! Cant beat their prices for all they have to offer as well.

Nice little exhibits of nature, ideal for small kids, heard their planetarium is good

Lovely bit of land well protected.

Saw orioles nest near Annies garden. Jamie on staff most helpful in showing me the location.

Great place for toddlers through middle school. Events for older kids and adults throughout the year. Educational for all ages. You will come back again and again. Touch tank on weekends. Special activities, camps - mostly via reservations.

Whent with a school group... great staff and nice facility

Beautiful park, and the nature center is clean and professional. We will definitely be returning!

This is a really cool place to learn about local nature! I just wandered in one day and theres a really beautiful trail that follows a creek behind the Center and leads to a picnic type area/ set of swings. Really nice!

Fun Beautiful Educational! Its Earth Day 365 days a year there!!Took my grandkids there. They definitely want to go back!