Anita B. Gorman Conservation Discovery Center

This is nature within a city. Inside are a few reptiles, a water feature, and sometimes exhibits. This is a wonderful inviting place to learn. Everyone who works here is kind and helpful. I have taken several craft classes here and the teacher really makes it fun.

The Discovery Center is a beautiful hidden gem, on Troost Avenue, between Emanuel Cleaver ll Blvd and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, in Kansas City. Emmeral, black and clear ponds, a community garden and orchard, and wonderful wide trails among Missouri native plants and trees! And that just outside! It an amazing place to do Qigong and Tai Chi in nature!

This is really a gem wish I had found out about it earlier well worth the visit plan on coming back and bringing my grandkids here

The day we came to the center there was a turtle exhibit going on where you can pet and hold live turtles. The ladies were very knowledgeable about turtles. Outside of the exhibit there were other small animals you can view such as snakes. Free, educational center with bonus trails in the back. We enjoyed it and recommend it if you have young kids.

A wonderful place to take kids and all who love and want to learn about history

Free admission 😺What a great place to learn about nature. They have many displays of real animals, skulls & plants. Call ahead of time to plan for children's activities.

The grounds are well kept and the staff are always friendly and talkative as we walk by. I really appreciate this park.

Great place to walk around and observe native plants and wildlife.

3.5 stars. This place is great for kid. The entire area is big and good for discovering the live and specimen animal. The center has a bird feeding at the center of the building. You can spot some colorful bird there. When we were there, the activity is happening surrounding the compound. This includes planting and more. The building entrance is free. You can see a lot of animals specimens around the building. They also have some live small animals in the cage or glass aquarium.

Awesome discovery center! Looks like a wonderful place to expand your knowledge about a lot of different aspects of nature. They have an amphibian room and other rooms to engage people in nature related activities. There are gorgeous trails to walk and explore the different native plantings. I'll go back and explore the interesting looking gift shop too. I want to visit at different times of the year to see the changes in the plants. This area is beautiful!

This place is an adventure, inside and out! Great for kids and adults, and a real treat for any budding naturalist. The building is closed now due to Covid-19, but the grounds are beautiful to wander, including a path around two large ponds. On a sunny day, I recommend a hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen, as there aren't any shade trees around the ponds. From there you can venture down some steps to walk along an actually attractive part of Brush Creek with stone walls grown wild with foliage of every kind. Along the way, there are more steps to go back up. On the backside of the Conservancy building there's a wildflower/bird feeder/flowering trees area where, if you stand still, a bevy of birds will come to the feeders. You can also watch this area from inside the building, almost like watching a movie screen, with birds flitting all around! So many wildflowers are blooming now, especially along the wooded nature path that extends from the bird feeder area westward toward Kauffman Gardens (a fabulous nearby detour, cautiously reopening May 18th), including evening primrose, coreopsis, false blue indigo, bridal wreath/spirea, white fringe trees, meadow anemone, iris, columbine, and more! I recommend starting your walk here, including checking out the short unpaved detours, then heading to the paved path around the pond. We've been having socially-distanced 2-person "gourmet picnics" with carryout food from André's Confiserie Suisse/aka André's Chocolates (51st & Main) at the two picnic tables in covered areas. The tables are not near each other, so separate semi-private picnics are possible. Note: There are no restroom facilities here unless the Conservancy building is open.

Well this was a lot of fun. My daughter is all about nature and animals, so a Saturday morning program (this one was to learn about snakes) was just what she needed on a winter day. Important scheduling note: They have special, free volunteer-run programming on Saturday's throughout the year. Double check their website/social if you're planning your visit! So she's not quite three, so her attention span is what it is, but she still enjoyed seeing the live snake, even if it creeped her out a bit. They also had a story time and activity where she got to make her own snake with beads and pipe cleaners. She had fun, and I enjoyed the snake feeding where they dropped some mice into their cage! Not sure she loved that part.. The whole center is very nice with light pouring through, and there is natural prairie grasses and bird viewing outside along some pathways. The place was spotlessly clean and welcoming, and parking is a cinch with the big lot outside. A great activity to change things up for the kiddos of nearly any age!

Wow! Another one of those 2nd tier attractions in this great city that I had neglected to visit until today, and I couldn't be more upset with myself. This is maybe the most hidden in plain sight jewels in Kansas City. Along Troost Ave. between Brush Creek and Cleaver Blvd is an 8 acre tract that shares space with the Kauffman Legacy Park - not to be confused with Kauffman Memorial Gardens; a couple of blocks west. The large Discovery Center building is full of classrooms and workshop space for all things nature related and specifically designed around childhood education, in fact a bus of school children were there today. The building also has plenty to look at outside the classrooms such as live snakes and turtles, stuffed native animal displays, a huge keel boat replica and as an amateur vexillologist; I loved the display of flags representing the native tribes that Lewis and Clark encountered. Outside is the most remarkable! Stone, concrete, dirt and wood chip trails lead you to and through small woodlands, wetlands, native grasses, flower gardens attracting birds and butterflies, creeks, ponds, waterfalls, picnic tables, a huge dugout canoe... Truly remarkable and very hard to believe that two of the busiest streets in KC are only a block away. Go for the educational lessons, go for the relaxation, go to get your steps in, go for the photo opportunities - Just go!

My oasis in the city. The birds are singing, rhe trees are swaying, rabbits frolicking, squirrels squirreling, and, thanks to all the native flora, the air smells like nature should. I haven't even ventured into the Discovery Center Yet! (Next time. Because there most definitely be a next time.)

What a great nature center! I wish they were able to be open more often. As it is right now, their family friendly activities and programs usually only happen 2 Saturdays a month. The staff and volunteers here help provide a great experience. My kids love attending the different activities they offer - storytime, crafts, etc. When we do stop by we usually spend 2 hours here if the weather is nice. After taking part in the scheduled events we like to head outside and play in their nature play area, check out the ponds, and walk the trails. It's a nice escape outdoors considering it's located just off The Plaza and UMKC. They also have tanks inside containing fish, turtles, and snakes. There are also several taxidermy displays to see and some furs and bones for kids to touch. The building itself is beautiful. The nature centers in MO tend to all be pretty amazing and this one definitely follows that trend. If you've got kids or are looking for something new to do, check this place out. They keep an up-to-date schedule of events online. They offer programs for the littlest of kids to adults. They also work closely with the schools in MO and scouting programs. They do a wonderful job of exposing people to the awesomeness that the outdoors has to offer. You won't regret stopping by!

I walk my dog here almost every day and I love it! Very well kept and a great place to go for a peaceful break from "city" life

Awesome place!!! Great learning venue to find out about nature, conservation, responsible hunting, fishing, and enjoying wildlife. It is housed in a LEED Platinum facility that has geothermal and solar energy as well as a living machine to treat their waste water!!!!! Outdoors they have several types of exhibit gardens showing homeowners how they can creat a woodland, native prairie, or pollinator garden. Highly recommend this for families and definitely for people into sustainability and green!

This is definitely a hidden gem in this city for kids. My friend and I brought our preschool-aged children along with our infants for the afternoon. We explored inside (and there's a lot to see!!) then headed outside to explore the area. We found a great area just to sit in relax while we watched the older kids play. The only negative is that the staff wasn't super friendly and I kind of felt like we weren't supposed to be there. I'm sure it's a different situation when there with a group but we definitely enjoyed our time there and will be back!

After 3 great field trips here over the years I have to say I am a big fan. We have been for Pre K, elementary, and now middle school and their programs are fun, interesting, and educational for all age groups. They have an annual Homeschool day I'm sorry to have missed. Next year for sure! The Discovery Center is an oasis in the middle of the city. As hunting and fishing kind of folks we really love learning about conservation efforts and being thoughtful about our actions. We want hunting and fishing in Missouri to be just as fun for generations to come as it has been for us! BUT even if you are not hunting and fishing types the Discovery Center will open your eyes to so much about our State's natural plant and wild life. I highly recommend a visit, with or without the kids.

So glad I finally made it here. Education, conservation, nice informed people, live animals, history, hands on activities and workshops...all nestled into this little urban corner. I recommend a visit.

This is a great place. I have a Cadette and Brownie Girl Scout Troops. We do a lot of activities here. The people are great and friendly. The building is the coolest thing. I plan on taking my troops back many more times. We all learn something new every time we have gone.

The campus and location cannot be beat. I did really like the hiking and different habitats that are set up. However during the last two field trips (2016 and 2017), the staff has been gruff and unfriendly with both kids and parent volunteers. They seemed overwhelmed and un-used to working with kids. I would not recommend this as a field trip location.

This is more than one of those hippie hang-outs; more than a place where you learn how to basketweave with native grasses. The surrounding area has an amazing landscape with pond gardens, special plants which are native to the area and so they can stand the 100 degree days here. There are even little duckies and their ducklings doing their duck things in the ponds. And there is a shelter area where you can stop and relax; it's a little spartan, but it's quaint. The trails around the building are relaxing, and I'm sure if you wanted to you could go 'off the beaten path' and explore the area on your own. These trail areas are pretty expansive, and you can really feel like you're in a different place, without the risk of actually getting lost anywhere. My next plan is to actually go inside the building, which is suppose to be one of those ecologically friendly building, where they get their heating and cooling not from a/c units, but from underground tubes of water. What will they think of next?

This is a very agreeable "Conservation Discovery Center." They have some nice trails that meander through a wetland area, a woodland area, and a native prairie area. That said, the site is quite small, so go here expecting a "nice little retreat" not an "expansive hike through unspoiled terrain." For its size, it is superb! The actual Discovery Center is neat, too. There are taxidermed animals, live animals (herpetofauna) and some neat displays (about Louis and Clark, different kinds of wood and their uses, and several other things), as well as a delightful reading nook/library for young children. There are also classrooms where a variety of different lessons/activities take place; however, it is not clear whether those are reserved for school groups, or if community members may participate in scheduled lessons/activities. Even though I'm giving it 5 stars, I find it vexing that there is no conspicuously posted information about this.