Welcome to Nature Swap!
Welcome!
Welcome to the Roger Williams Park Zoo's Nature Swap located within the Hasbro's "Our Big Backyard" exhibit! To participate in Nature Swap, bring in natural "found" items to collect points for swapping with items in our collection. You can trade things commonly found in nature like shells, rocks, acorns, leaves, or pine cones.
When you bring in an item, you will be awarded points for:
- Type of item.
- What you know about your item.
- Your description of the experience you had when you found the item.
- The presentation of the item.
Swappers, ages 3 and up, can register for an account and start trading right away! Children under the age of 14 must have parents permission to register.
Nature Swap Operating Hours
Nature Swap is open daily! Look for a staff member (blue shirt) or a Play Partner (yellow apron) to open the room.
The Big Backyard is Open Year Round!
Have questions? Visit our Rules or FAQ pages in the tab above!
News & Articles
September At Home Quest-Dark Skies!
According to the International Dark-Sky Association, light pollution is defined as, “any adverse or unintended effect of the use of artificial light at night, including sky glow, glare, light trespass, light clutter, decreased visibility at night, and energy waste.” Light pollution has detrimental consequences on biodiversity and the environment, and also on people! Everyone enjoys seeing the stars, and light pollution often makes this difficult or impossible in densely pop...
8/30/2023
At Home Quest - August
At Home Quest-National Honeybee Day!National Honeybee Day is Saturday, August 19th! Do you know that without bees, we wouldn't have foods like apples, cherries, almonds, pumpkin and chocolate? For 5000 points in August, ...
8/3/2023
July Quest-Shark Appreciation Day!
July 14th is Shark Awareness Day! Sharks and their "cousins", skates and rays, are a huge and diverse group of more than 1000 different species. Although often misunderstood, sharks are fascinating animals with an important role to play in our ecosystem! To earn 5,000 points in July, find o...
7/2/2023
June Quest-Mini BioBlitz!
Have you heard of a "BioBlitz"? In a BioBlitz, volunteers working in teams have 24 hours to tally as many species of animals and plants as they can on a particular parcel of land. The Rhode Island Natural History Survey's official state BioBlitz is June 9th and 10th. This month, we are encouraging Nature Swappers to hold your own mini BioBlitz!For 5000 points this month, find an outdoor space, ...
6/5/2023
May Quest-April Showers Bring May Flowers (and Rainbows!)
Early spring can see a lot of rain. But after the rain comes the rainbow, and the flowers! To celebrate the arrival of spring, we'll be focusing on the colors of the season that "April Showers" can bring. Can...
5/3/2023
April Quest-Earth Day Bingo!
Earth Day is April 22nd! Earth Day is a day to show your support for conservation and environmental protection. The first Earth Day in 1970 is considered the start of the modern environmental movement...
4/11/2023
March Quest-World Wildlife Day!
March 3rd is World Wildlife Day. This is a United Nations International day that celebrates the world's wild animals and plants, as well as the contribution that they make to our lives and the planet. For 5000 points in March, document how you help wildlife. Do you put out birdfeeders? Recycle? Pick up trash in your neighborhood? All of these are ...
3/2/2023
February Quest-Happy Groundhog Day!
February 2nd is Groundhog Day! Tradition says if a groundhog sees its shadow on this day, we will have 6 more weeks of winter. Although groundhogs may not ...
2/1/2023
January Quest-Squirrel Appreciation Day!
January 21st is Squirrel Appreciation Day! Do you know there are at least 285 species of squirrel? Or that the oldest squirrel fossil dates back 35 million years? Show your love for o...
1/3/2023
December At Home Quest-Keep a Weather Log!
The Winter Solstice is on December 21st. On this day, the Earth's north pole reaches its maximum tilt away from the sun, and the northern hemisphere experiences its shortest amount of daylight. With winter on the way, you have probably noticed a change in the weat...
11/30/2022