RE indoor tracker training: Before the event get parents and youngsters to use tupperware type boxes partially filled with damp sand to make tracks with the "help" of their favorite domestic canid, feline, turtle, lizard, birds, and whatever other pets you can find in your group. If you are brave, try to include some "scat."

Station the boxes around the room with the pet owner as part of the instructors. Have the appropriate pages from something like the Peterson's Guide to Animal Tracks at each station. Let the youngsters solo or in small groups go around the circuit try to figure out each track, then let the youngster who owns the pet instruct on the track and how to tell who made the track with the aid of the guidebook pages.

Make it part of other events going on so if someone doesn't enjoy the tracker stuff or has to wait their turn, there are other things to keep their interest.

Have fun!