Nature Play Festival 2026 — free!

Hours

Festival hours will be 10:00am to 4:00pm—please note this is a one-hour delayed opening. 

The Museum will be open 10:00am to 8:00pm—please note this is a one-hour delayed opening. You can visit after 4:00pm, but the festival will be over.

Due to the delayed opening, please don't arrive before 10:00am, you will not be able to park nor enter our campus.

Admission

Admission will be free all day and evening, from 10:00am to 8:00pm. We do ask that you check in with our Admissions staff when you arrive and receive a visitor sticker.

There will be NO visitor parking on the Discovery Museum campus, all day and evening

We will run three free, continuous TransAction shuttles from 9:50am to 8:00pm from two parking locations:

• 133 Prospect Street (Congregation Beth Elohim) -- purple signs
• 11 Charter Road (Acton school parking) -- orange signs
  • Please follow signs for designated event parking areas as summer school is in session and we have permission only to use specific lots

Please go directly to one of these two locations to park your car and ride the shuttle. THERE WILL BE NO VISITOR PARKING ON SITE AT THE MUSEUM.

There will be fun activities happening all day throughout our campus, including a Mud Kitchen! And there will be activity tents hosted by many of our community partners and local vendors. 

Specific timed activities are as follows:

• time tba | Nature Walk on Great Hill Conservation Land (meet at trailhead near Treehouse in Discovery Woods)
• time tba | Nature Walk on Great Hill Conservation Land (meet at trailhead near Treehouse in Discovery Woods)
• 10:00 - 12:00 | Nature Take Aparts, (Discovery Woods, under blue tarp)
• 10:30 - 11:00 | Treehouse Yoga (Treehouse)
• 11:15 - 11:30 | Treehouse Yoga (Treehouse)
• 12:00 - 2:00 | Invasive Plant Papermaking (Discovery Woods, under blue tarp)
• 1:00 - 4:00 | Fire Starting with Owl Eyes Survival (Discovery Woods, under blue tarp)
• 2:00 - 4:00 | Bug Hunt (Discovery Woods, under blue tarp)

The following partner organizations will join us to host activity and information tents:

10:00 to 1:00

• The Nature Connection
• Farrington Nature Linc
• Mass 350 Metro West
• Boston Area Gleaners
• Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust
• Acton Memorial Library
• Acton Office of Sustainability
• Kids Naturally
• Rockland Trust
• Natick Community Organic Farm

1:00 to 4:00

• The Nature Connection
• First Connections 
• TimberNook
• Bees & Thank You
• Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention
• Daisy Hill Farm
• Sudbury Valley Trustees
• DM School Groups - Solar 
• Kids Naturally
• Rockland Trust
• Natick Community Organic Farm

The Bees and Thank You food truck will be on site from 10:00 to 4:00, serving up sweet and savory honey grilled cheese creations--yum!

The Chicken on the Road food truck will be on site from {KAREN} serving up "the best damn chicken...period!"

Food will not be free.

There will be no large strollers permitted inside the Museum buiding...so you may want to leave them in your car rather than bring them on the shuttle. 

There will be a dedicated Take-a-Break Tent on our lawn for anyone who would like to get away for a bit.

[donation link]

Call for volunteers or community partners or too late?

Sorry, but no. Camp groups cannot be accommodated and any arriving will be turned away.