LA PINE — Nearly 600 La Pine elementary schoolers learned about the outdoors Tuesday during a field day put on by the U.S. Forest Service.

“They are learning everything from nature art to tree identification,” said Kristen McBride, natural resources team leader for the Crescent Ranger District of the Deschutes National Forest.

Students from La Pine and Rosland elementary schools, kindergartners to fifth-graders, took part in La Pine Outdoor Adventure Day. It was the first time the event catered to students from both schools.

The day gave the kids a chance to learn about what is literally all around them, said Tammy Doty, principal at La Pine Elementary School.

“We live in an area that is surrounded by the great outdoors,” she said.

The High Desert Museum, Klamath County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, Discover Your Northwest, the Deschutes Children’s Forest and Oregon State Parks teamed up with the U.S. Forest Service to set up a series of stations on the softball fields behind La Pine High School for the event. They divided the stations into three series, one geared for kindergarten and first grade, another for second and third grade and one for fourth and fifth grade. There were 23 stations in all.

While varied, all the stations had an outdoor focus. There was a salmon-shaped tent, a favorite animal costume parade and a lunchtime visit by Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl. Some of the stations tested the kids’ brains while others their brawn.

Donning large Nomex tops, the yellow, fire-resistant shirts worn by firefighters, fourth- and fifth-graders sprinted through an obstacle course designed by firefighters to give youngsters an idea of their work. The course included dragging a firehose through a tube, filling a bucket full of water and pouring it on a fake campfire, and dousing water onto a picture of a burning home affixed to a log.

London Hook, 11, a fifth-grader at La Pine Elementary, said she thought the course was fun because it included so many things she likes to do — crawling on the ground, throwing things and playing with water. But is she now thinking about a career as a firefighter?

“I’m more into zoo stuff,” Hook said.

She and kids who share her interest were in luck Tuesday, as some of the stations were animal-centric, and one even had live birds. Carolyn Nesbitt, curator of education at the High Desert Museum, took turns displaying a western screech owl or a raven to classes of fourth- and fifth-graders. She said the kids did pretty well switching from the commotion of the more active stations to the quiet of seeing a live bird up close.

The fourth-graders in Leslie Reif’s class from Rosland Elementary peppered Nesbitt with questions about Hera, the raven. Although the blind bird is an educational animal, Nesbitt said she avoids handling it too much or treating it like a pet.

Stephanie Miller, 10, one of Reif’s students, was among those who wished she could have touched the raven.

“I wanted to hold it,” she said. “You can’t though.”

At the skulls, hides and horns station, also run by the High Desert Museum, the kids had a chance to be hands-on. They compared the size of skulls and the softness of hides. And they swarmed around a table of rubber formed into the shape of animal scat found in the High Desert. The scat array typically proves to be the most popular item in the display, said Susan Grasser, assistant curator of education at the museum.

She said kids gravitate to “anything that is ooey, gooey or gross.”

Jeremiah Robbins, 9, a first-grader at La Pine Elementary, was equally interested in the displayed skulls and paw prints.

“They are just really cool,” he said.