Want to walk off that big Thanksgiving Day dinner? The trails around the Kettle Pond Visitor Center, in Charlestown, are perfect for hiking with kids or friends in wheelchairs. The trails will be open Thursday from sunrise to sunset.

For youngsters with short attention spans, parents can select a route that lasts only 20 minutes, with stops at little learning stations along the way. Inside the visitor center, when it is open, are interactive nature displays, kids’ crafts and other diversions. The building is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. It will be closed on Thanksgiving Day but will reopen Friday.

For nature lovers in wheelchairs, most of the trails are accessible and generally smooth.

For everyone, the scenery reflects Southern New England’s glacial past and the rich diversity of a forest by the sea.

For more exercise and scenery, a visitor can extend a walk through the adjacent Kimball Wildlife Sanctuary, where a shaded memorial garden is a sanctuary for rest and reflection.

Throughout the year, both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs the visitor center, and the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, which owns the Kimball sanctuary, offer interpretive walks, lectures, films and other activities.

Just off the southbound side of Route 1, Kettle Pond Visitor Center opened in 2005, part of Rhode Island’s network of National Wildlife Refuges. The visitor-center building houses meeting rooms, natural-history displays, a gift shop, small theater, and a children’s area with coloring supplies and other activities.

Behind the building, a smooth, half-mile trail winds through the woods, ending at an overlook with a winter view of Ninigret Pond and East Beach. The Fish and Wildlife Service plans to build an observation tower there during the 2009-2010 season so the beach will be visible year-around, even when foliage obscures the view from ground level.

On the other side of the property, three trails offer two quarter-mile hikes and a half-mile walk through parts of the wildlife sanctuary and Burlingame State Park. In several places, there are benches with lovely views.

For a more strenuous workout, the John Vincent Gormley Trail takes hikers around Watchaug Pond for 7.75 miles, including a stretch on paved roads. (The walk is featured in Walks & Rambles in Rhode Island by the late Ken Weber.)

During the summer, the visitor center offers guided walks, paddling trips and “Wildlife Wednesday” programs with prominent naturalists.

Friends of the National Wildlife Refuges of Rhode Island list events on their Web site at http://friendsnwr-ri.org/events.htm

The Kettle Pond Visitors Center is popular among summer tourists and year-round residents of all ages and physical abilities.

tmeade@projo.com