AGFC Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center

Fantastic experience: Absolutely great place. Much better than I expected. They have a scavenger hunt easy, med, and hard. We had a blast. My son wants to go back with his cousins now. I highly recommend. Plus it's free.

Fantastic experience: Great place to stop with free admission!

Fantastic experience: Awesome place to take the kids and learn about nature for free! We saw aquatic salamanders, an alligator, local fish, local birds, even a giant fat groundhog outside! It's within walking distance of lots of museums, both free and paid.

Fantastic experience: Really Fun Place, Kids Always Love it and is Very Interactive! Also a great AC break on a hot day at the River Market.

Fantastic experience: It's always a pleasure to walk past here. Great addition to the city

Positive experience: Small museum with a few live reptiles (snakes and lizards) and plenty of taxidermy. They have a scavenger hunt for kids that was a hit for my crew and helpful way to teach them more about Arkansas specific wildlife. Can't beat the price (free)!

Fantastic experience: Took my 10 year old grandson. He had a good time. He painted a fish (a rubber version) & they showed him how to make a print of it on paper. We watched them feed the fish, looked at all the wildlife native to Arkansas & then he got lessons on shooting a BBQ gun and actually got to shoot one. The staff is great! Very helpful & friendly. This was a free event. If you have children, this is a great place to take them.

Fantastic experience: Such a fun place to learn about animals native to Arkansas! The educators are fantastic and the atmosphere is laid back. Definitely put it high on your list!

Positive experience: Nice little place to take the kids for a few hours. They have a scavenger hunt type of thing for the kids to do.

Fantastic experience: Knowledgeable, friendly staff that welcomed our drawing group!

Fantastic experience: 10/10 recommend! Free fun for families, with or without kiddos! They have many species of reptiles and fish, and an informative video about the history of the Arkansas Game and Fish. They also have several resources available for the other nature centers in Arkansas! The gift shop has several souvenirs as well!

Positive experience: Cool (free) place to check out, close to the action of downtown. They have a cool scavenger hunt for kids.

Fantastic experience: Cute, free center to learn about the wildlife in the area.

Fantastic experience: This place is a hidden gem (and free!). It was really cool to see and learn about all the animals in Arkansas. One of the staff members even brought out a little snake for everyone to see. It has tons of activities for kids. It was just my husband and I, no kids, and we still had a lot of fun. I will say, there was tons of kiddos having fun and on the loud side, so if that bothers you, then I would suggest going during the week or not at peak times. We went on a Saturday around 11am. There also isn't a parking lot right outside but there is street parking and a park (Tunnels Playground) you can park at that's about a 5 minute walk. The park is very nice and has tons of things for kids so that would be fun to add to the trip!

Fantastic experience: Having visited from a “big city” it was hard to believe that this amazing place was FREE! Not only that it is free, but it is educational, well kept, and interesting for people of all ages. My sons love nature, and they had a blast doing the “scavenger hunt”, learning about Arkansas through the lens of nature, and appreciated all the beautiful animals they have on display. The taxidermy is top-class, and the live animals are in great conditions. 100% recommend this place as something to do for anyone in Little Rock.

Positive experience: Staff was pleasant and informative. I just feel like there could be more to do. You can see everything in 5min.

Fantastic experience: Great stop for families or anyone interested in learning about the local wildlife of the area! We have two young children who really enjoyed doing the scavenger hunt and looking at all the animals. My husband enjoyed reading all the exhibits and learning about the area. There's a gun little gift shop with lots of options for souvenirs too! We really enjoyed our visit here!

Fantastic experience: On our way from Houston to Ottawa, we spent a night in Little Rock and visited the Nature Center, which was an amazing experience. We had a wonderful time with my children, learning about wildlife and observing various animal species. The atmosphere was fantastic, and my kids had a lot of fun. It's definitely a great place for families to visit. Plus, it's completely free! We made a donation to support the continuation of such services. I highly recommend it to anyone passing through Little Rock.

Fantastic experience: Found this gem during a day visiting Little Rock after a ride on the street car and before walking to the Clinton Presidential Library. It was wonderful for both adults and children. No tickets required.

Fantastic experience: Free to explore and something nice to do if your just checking out the area

Fantastic experience: Ate sour cream and onion crickets

Fantastic experience: Their aquarium set up is really cool! Loved the gift shop. It has a great selection of nature and Arkansas themed items. And the nature center is right in the middle of some other great places:museums, food, and river walk.

Fantastic experience: I absolutely loved the place! I love that it’s free! The workers are all so nice and it’s very clean inside! There is lots of animals to look at and tons of cool facts! One of my favorite places to go to!

Fantastic experience: This is such a cool place! I stumbled across it online looking for things to do on a cold, rainy day. It was really fun! And free!

Fantastic experience: Fantastic and free! This is a nice place to go to see Arkansas fish in attractive tanks that make it easy for toddlers to see the fish. The surrounding river walk, bridge, playground and food court at the River Marketplace made it the perfect day of adventure for our 2 and 3 year olds. We highly recommend and will go again.

Positive experience: Great place to take the family for a visit any time you're in Little Rock. No cost and lots of great exhibits, with live fish and animals, plus regular programs about the outdoors and outdoor recreation. Highly recommend.

Fantastic experience: Lots of fun with my 3 year old, short walking distance to/from toddler park.

Fantastic experience: An excellent nature center with lots to look at and the river right outside the back windows. A big variety of birds and squirrels at the feeders provided additional entertainment. The permanent exhibits are great, the staff is knowledgable and helpful and the gift shop is well-stocked, especially with local outdoor writers like Jim Spencer and Keith Sutton. They have lots of bathroom stalls which are an excellent idea since parking is at a premium and the walk to get there, especially on Saturday, can be a half-mile or more. Many of the roads are blocked off due to highway construction.

Fantastic experience: Our trip to AGFC Witt Stephen's Jr Center was amazing! When we entered we were greeted & they had a scavenger hunt for the kiddos! The wildlife observation area was full of life---surprising being right off of downtown LR/River market. There was a groundhog, squirrel, & many birds!

Fantastic experience: Beautiful, nature inspired design, clean and organized, informative staff. The turtles, snakes, alligator, and fish look lively and well taken care of. Love the life-size replica of a trappers' house.

Fantastic experience: This place is so much fun! We eat and hang out in the food court at the River Market and walk over to see the fish while we are there. My 8yo daughter loves to find all the different fish listed and feel the fur of all the different animals. My 2yo enjoyed it also, watching the fish, especially the leucistic (not albino) gar! It is so neat!!

Fantastic experience: It's a really cool place. If you're ever in the capital city it's a must visit in my opinion. As a resident of Arkansas I'm really proud of this place. Best part it's Free!

Fantastic experience: Cool, educational, free. Kids had fun. Does not take long to see everything. You can be VERY thorough and still be out in less than an hour.

Positive experience: Not as in depth as the Pine Bluff Nature Center but decent enough.

Fantastic experience: Wonderful FREE Nature Center! We spent an hour exploring the exhibits. The gift shop had a lot of neat goodies to shop from.

Fantastic experience: We visited with our 3 Grandchildren. Great experience and we were very impressed with the staff, very friendly and informative, especially the young woman who presented on turkey hunting and taught our 3 how to make a turkey call and its use. Thank you!

Fantastic experience: We were fortunate to come during feeding time! The staff here is wonderful.

Fantastic experience: Variety of reptiles and fish. Very clean and loaded with educational information. Free!!!

Fantastic experience: We had an incredible trip, hosting many interns this summer. We got to witness meetings, different speeches, presentations, and a tour. The entire staff is friendly, kind, accommodating. We learned a lot and made great memories taking future Arkansas State employees on tour at this facility.

Fantastic experience: Great place to take kids. I wish there would be open on the weekends too.

Fantastic experience: Small-ish space absolutely chock-full of fascinating, well displayed local wildlife focused exhibits. Even the fishing gear was artfully done!

Fantastic experience: I live the white gar and scavenger hunt. The employees were friendly and helpful.

Fantastic experience: Fun for all ages! Very friendly staff. And very informative on the natural wonders of Arkansas. Definitely recommend a visit!

Fantastic experience: A hidden gem in downtown Little Rock. This center is fun and very educational. It is normally a great school trip destination but this early in the school year there were no groups so we had the place to ourselves. The staff were so friendly and knowledgeable and even helped me get a fishing license. The center is great but also take a walk around their beautifully landscaped property. Pulaski County Master Gardeners are an integral part of the gardens beauty and diversity. A must see location while you are in Little Rock.

Fantastic experience: They really highlight the outdoor assets we have in Arkansas. If it is too hot to get outside, come here and see what you are missing. This is an amazing, free resource.

Fantastic experience: Superb‼️ This is a perfect place to learn about nature without going into the woods. The live animals and the taxied ones are well represented. The habitats are created craftyly.Go see for yourself

Positive experience: Really good location as it overlooks the Arkansas River. I really liked the biome they have set up for some of the fish, as you can see what the native habitat would be if you saw them in the wild. Would have given more stars, but the poor reptiles are kept in aquariums that you can buy from Petco. If they would give the reptiles the same sort of habitat and natural fauna, this would be an amazing place to visit.

Fantastic experience: Nice nature center! Beautiful view of the river too.

Fantastic experience: First time visiting today and what a wonderful experience! Not only is admission free but the scavenger hunt for the kids was so much fun and the staff was extremely friendly! Thank you for a wonderful day!

Fantastic experience: Great fun for while family. Learn so much about the animals in Arkansas. TOTALLY Free but please donate!!!!! Helps with keeping this place going and funding Game and Fish! Also nice bathrooms and COOL place to cool down in the HOT AR heat

Fantastic experience: It's a small place but it's fun for the kids... My daughter loved the fish and kids can look in the fish tank and make sure you watch them because the top of the tank is open... The gift shop had some cute stuff...

Fantastic experience: Know what you are in for when you visit. It's not going to keep anyone occupied for even half a day but it's cool, interesting, for being free totally worth a visit especially if you have little kids. Just think of it as bonus for other stuff nearby or a nice NOT a tourist trap pit stop on a long road trip.

Fantastic experience: I love this place. The displays are the best and it's free admission and there's so much offered to the public. Kinda like walking a nature trail inside

Fantastic experience: Very nice place to take the kids.

Positive experience: A short but worthwhile stop for anyone looking for outdoors activities around Little Rock. Plenty of guides, friendly staff, and a few animals to look at while you're there.

Fantastic experience: It's a great free little activity to check out. Took a group of kids from ages 3-13 and they had a fun time. We went to the front desk upon arrival and they handed each kid a clipboard with a scavenger hunt and they spent about 30 minutes looking at everything completing thier hunt. The smaller kids liked watching the fish as well.

Fantastic experience: Not too far to walk from the President Clinton library. Excellent display of fin, fur and feathers in AR. Interesting displays of what makes up the Natural State and efforts to preserve it for future generations. I imagine lots and lots of school kids are brought here.

Fantastic experience: Attended a baby shower at the classroom there today. Really nice room, lady from center helped with starting set up then turned it over to party-giver but kept in touch to ensure we didn't need her assistance. Very enjoyable venue!!

Fantastic experience: Nice little place for free. A couple of tanks with different fish. They have a little shop. I think it's nice for 30 - 60 minutes of family fun. They have bass, crappie, an albino gar, and a little alligator.

Fantastic experience: Beautiful place. I could see what kind of fish we have in Arkansas, nice imitation of nature, I could show my toddler tortoise, frogs, snakes. We'll definitely come back.

Fantastic experience: Very educational and fun for all ages

Fantastic experience: Lovely! Love the aquariums and displays.

Fantastic experience: It was very nice to see alot of stuff

Positive experience: It was interesting but little to interact with.

Fantastic experience: If you need info on the local wildlife, fishing, camping areas and parks, come here.

Fantastic experience: An interesting museum set right on the river. Well done small but packed with interesting facts about this area. Have a seat on a bench and hear about a day in a french trappers life.

Positive experience: Cool place to check out. Great information and some super displays of live and taxidermy animals. Very well done!

Fantastic experience: We went as a Boy Scout group and all of the kids absolutely loved it.

Fantastic experience: My tour was interesting and informative. Morgan is the best tour guide! The center is a great place for the whole family to visit.

Fantastic experience: Nice exhibits, small but enjoyed it. Cost free, can't beat that!

Fantastic experience: Nice, clean ,lots of things to see

Fantastic experience: Great place to visit for adults and for families. Great resources. Love the native plant garden.

Fantastic experience: This place is awesome, super great for kids and families

Positive experience: You can't beat free admission! Absolutely adorable! Great little store and several education displays. The theater portion was closed assuming due to the pandemic. Definitely recommend. It's also within walking distance to several other park locations.

Fantastic experience: Awesome little place to see live and mounted animals. They also have hundreds of older fishing lures to see for fishing fanatics. The one and only staff member working was super nice and gave all 4 of my kids a little animal book of birds, snakes, and fish. We all really enjoyed.

Fantastic experience: I will always love to recommend this place. It is free and very educational.

Fantastic experience: Very neat small nature center. The kids loved it.

Fantastic experience: We visit everytime I visit my family. Small but wonderful with a great staff.

Negative experience: Wouldn't know. Everything in little rock was closed because of the tropical storm even though it was only slightly raining. None of the museums were open and when you call them they all say they are opened. Very disappointed that at least the voicemails to the museums didn't say they were closed due to weather. Also all the museums are inside so I'm confused why weather would effect an inside museum.

Fantastic experience: So educational and beautiful inside! The staff were extremely friendly and helpful. The animals were well taken care of and very interesting indeed.

Fantastic experience: This place is awesome. The aquarium has some unique fish in it.

Fantastic experience: Lucky we found this spot! Such a cool place for adults and kids.

Fantastic experience: Awsome place! Wish they had more room for the shed event....

Fantastic experience: Great place to visit, and it's free to the public. They host monthly events for children and families. Very lovely place to see.

Positive experience: It was super quiet. One person was working, he did not to get up or truly acknowledge us there. Good history, wonderful selection of various lures used in the past.

Fantastic experience: Great place to learn as an adult or Explorer with kids of all ages. All at no cost. All funded by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (I think ‍♂️) For Local Business Owners: Contact me if you would like me to visit your establishment and give an honest review. ....OR if you would like a free online/social media audit which will highlight some areas where you can improve. I'm here to help.

Positive experience: Went for a class on bear hunting at the auditorium. Had very nice displays inside. Buildings or events could maybe have been a little better marked

Positive experience: The big fish tank and a couple other things were shut down for maintenance. The kiddo still had fun though.

Fantastic experience: I am terrified of snakes, the nice man at the front told me how to walk so I wouldn't have to see them. Otherwise fun place to learn about fish and wildlife in the area. Clean bathrooms and well air conditioned.

Positive experience: It's free, so worth a quick visit to see the critters and displays. The fish are away on vacation during tank repair.

Fantastic experience: Great place to take the kids.

Fantastic experience: Very educational and interesting things to learn about.

Fantastic experience: This is such a fun place to visit Great place to take the kids and family.

Fantastic experience: A nice display showing the water based environments of Arkansas and a really nice fishing gear collection. I like it!

Fantastic experience: Great kid friendly fun with knowledgable staff. Buy hunting fishing licenses and learn about new events, shooting tournaments and more

Positive experience: Great place to take the kids! Live fish, alligator, and reptiles to see. Only downfall was finding parking.

Fantastic experience: Cute little place to visit if you're in the area. We spent about 20 minutes here. It's free, so don't expect a whole lot. It has a small aquarium woth some interesting fish, and turtles. Very educational spot with lots of small historical items. The gift shop has cute items for kids and adults at reasonable prices.

Fantastic experience: Great place to go see...we love the educational shows!

Fantastic experience: Worth a walk around to get some good wildlife information, free entry little aquarium area with native fish

Fantastic experience: State sales tax funds four nature centers across Arkansas. Witt Stephens Center is both interesting and informative. Children and adults will find it interesting and a good way to spend an hour or so looking at exhibits and a movie. Several aquariums containing fish and reptiles provide education and fun. A native plant feeding area attracts birds and squirrels for your entertainment. While you stroll along the river, stop in for a few minutes and support Arkansas Game and Fish Commission conservation.