Earth Day Walk (Ages 3-7)
Come and enjoy the early blooms of spring with your family as we celebrate Earth Day together, getting a sneak peek at the Gardens before we open for the season. Join us for a signs-of-spring scavenger hunt and plant some flower seeds to grow at home. Families are welcome to picnic afterward and explore the Gardens on their own. *Please note that the Children’s Garden buildings, Café, and Lerner Visitor Center will not yet be open for the season. Registration for this class includes Gardens admission for one child and up to two accompanying adults. Children two and under are welcome to attend for free.
Spring is one of the best times to go bird-watching—many birds are returning to their mating grounds and are as showy and colorful as ever! Take advantage of all the natural spaces at the Gardens and get a front seat to the show! Put your birding skills to the test – or gain a whole new set – as we look for our feathered friends while learning all about their lives, their habits, and adaptations. Participants will craft their own birds’ nests from natural materials to take home with them.
With all the flowers that we care for at the Gardens, it’s no surprise that we are regularly and frequently visited by all sorts of pollinators! Explore the Gardens with us as we search for these busy creatures and discover more about who they are, what they’re up to, and why they’re important. We’ll also get an up-close look at how pollination works as we take apart a flower together. Participants will plant a flower to take home with them that pollinators will be sure to enjoy!
The Gardens is full of beauty and wonder thriving aboveground, but there’s plenty to discover below the surface! Join us as we explore the life thriving in the depths and shallows of our ponds. Together, we’ll search for aquatic critters, learning about their lives in the process. Participants will create a fun frog craft to help them remember everything they learned during the program.
Summertime is prime butterfly time! Join us to explore our Native Butterfly and Moth House, as well as other butterfly hot spots at the Gardens. We’ll learn about life cycles, special connections to plants, unique adaptations, and how to tell the difference between butterflies and moths. Students will leave with an even greater appreciation for—and understanding of—these lovely creatures. At the end of the program, participants will craft a colorful reminder of the butterfly life cycle to take home with them. This unique adult/child program is free for members and $10 in addition to admission for nonmembers
Monday, July 11-Friday, July 15
Discover all that you can see, smell, hear, feel, and even taste as we tour the Lerner Garden of the Five Senses together, experiencing nature and the Gardens in a whole new way. Participants will finish the program by potting up an herb to take with them, carrying forward and cultivating that sensory experience at home! This unique adult/child program is free for members and $10 in addition to admission for nonmembers
Monday, July 18-Friday, July 22
Learn about what happens as a seed becomes a full-grown plant, then starts the entire cycle all over again! We’ll talk everything plants: life cycle, adaptations, and overall importance. We’ll dissect different parts of a plant, learn about their functions, and explore our Learning Garden, testing (and tasting!) what we’ve learned. Participants will take a plant home as a reminder of their botanical experience. This unique adult/child program is free for members and $10 in addition to admission for nonmembers
Monday, July 25-Friday, July 29
The Gardens is home to many (many!) plants. In turn, those plants become home to lots of interesting creatures! Come explore the Gardens as we look closely under leaves and up in the trees, aboveground, below, and in the pond for all sorts of signs of life. A scavenger hunt will help guide our search, and participants will leave having created their own portable habitat—a toad house—to take home with them. This unique adult/child program is free for members and $10 in addition to admission for nonmembers.
Monday, August 1-Friday August 5
Monday, August 15-Friday, August 19
The famous and well-loved monarch is the inspiration for this program! Participants will learn all about this beautiful butterfly, from its anatomy to its life cycle to its migration. Participants will become community scientists as they help us tag monarchs at the Gardens for future monitoring on their autumnal journeys southward. Recently listed as an endangered species, monarchs need us to understand their importance now more than ever. Participants will leave with an appreciation for these creatures along with a monarch butterfly art piece that they create themselves. This parent/child class includes Gardens admission for one child and one adult.
Come and search for underground life with us! Participants will learn about the important role decomposers play in helping our gardens and forests grow, how to identify these critters, and some decomposer anatomy. Participants will leave with an understanding of how decomposition works along with their own handmade worm jars to inspire curiosity about decomposition back at home. This parent/child class includes Gardens admission for one child and one adult.
Join us for a scavenger hunt through the woods as we learn how to identify some of Maine’s native trees and discover why their leaves change color in the fall. Participants will learn how to distinguish a coniferous tree from a deciduous one. During our walk, we will collect leaves to make a leaf-rubbing banner to help us remember our native trees. This parent/child class includes Gardens admission for one child and one adult.
Come and enjoy one of the last open days of the season as we take in all the fall has to offer. We’ll investigate plant parts and their role in continuing the life cycle of a plant, search for a variety of seedpods, harvest veggies and herbs from the Learning Garden, and cut a bouquet to take home. This parent/child class includes Gardens admission for one child and one adult.
