Wehr Nature Center

Wehr Nature Center sits inside Whitnall Park in Franklin, and it's the kind of place that makes you slow down. The 220-acre natural area has five miles of trails winding through prairie, woods, and wetland — and unlike a zoo, nothing here is behind thick glass or in an enclosure that feels artificial. The resident wildlife — red foxes, great horned owls, white-tailed deer, painted turtles — live here because this is actually their habitat.

For families, the indoor Nature Center building is the anchor. There's a discovery room packed with animal skulls, pelts, nests, and specimens kids can actually touch. Staff naturalists are genuinely enthusiastic and will talk your ear off about local ecology if you let them.

The live animal exhibits house non-releasable animals — an Eastern screech owl that was injured, a fox that was raised by humans — so there's always something to see even in winter.

The real draw is the programming. Wehr runs seasonal naturalist-led programs that feel nothing like a school field trip: night hikes searching for owls by sound, snowshoe treks in January, spring wildflower walks, frog calling surveys at dusk. These fill up fast, especially the evening programs. Register online as soon as the monthly calendar drops.

For younger kids (3-6), the discovery room and the bird feeders visible from large windows are usually enough to hold attention for an hour. Older kids who like hiking can tackle the longer trail loops and use the printed trail maps to navigate independently, which they love. Strollers can manage the paved entry area but the natural surface trails get narrow and rooted — a structured carrier works better for toddlers.

Self-guided trail access is free year-round. This is one of the best free outdoor destinations in the Milwaukee metro, and locals who've found it tend to come back every season.