TODAY'S HOURS: 8 AM – 6 PM

TODAY'S HOURS: 8 AM – 6 PM

Celebrate Spring Break with Family Workshops that Combine Science and Fun

Extract banana DNA at the Garden’s Spring Break Family Workshop

Spring Break is just around the corner, and now is the time to sign up for the Garden’s Family Workshops. These sessions are a great way to get out of the house, play with your kids and learn something along the way.

Two sessions will be offered this year. Morning sessions, offered on March 15 and 16 from 10 to 11:30, will focus on building kokedama, beautiful moss ball planters from Japan. Each participant will make his or her own kokedama complete with a beautiful mini-orchid to take home.

In the afternoon, families will use scientific tools and methods to discover the Secret Life of Plants. Activities will include a scavenger hunt in the Garden’s World of Orchids exhibit, a vanilla taste test, and an opportunity to extract the DNA of a banana. Families will leave the workshop with the materials and instructions on making their own egg carton museum of natural treasures.

Spring Break Family Workshop: Kokedama Creations — March 15, 10 – 11:30 am
Spring Break Family Workshop: Secret Life of Plants — March 15, 1 – 2:30 pm
Spring Break Family Workshop: Kokedama Creations — March 16, 10 – 11:30 am
Spring Break Family Workshop: Secret Life of Plants — March 16, 1 – 2:30 pm

Both sessions include admission to the Garden the day of the workshop, so plan extra time to play and explore the spring landscape. The afternoon sessions further include a trip to the tropical paradise of the World of Orchids exhibit.

The workshops are a great opportunity for families to play and learn together, says Innovative Learning Manager for Special Programs Anna Sorelle.

“Many parents don’t have opportunities to learn alongside their children,” says Sorelle. “Their kids go to school and on field trips, but the parents don’t get to be there. Every year we see how much families love learning together.”

Related Articles

Herbarium specimen from AABP project - Blakea spindet
Newsletter

Armchair Botany and the Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program: Volunteers Make Scientists’ Hard Work Accessible

Important botanical science happens in the field. Researchers tramp across habitats, sometimes in remote and rugged regions of the world, collect plant samples, document the distribution of species and study ecosystems in action. Later those scientists return to the lab with boxes of specimens, and a new and equally important phase of research begins. Scientists label, mount and digitize specimens to make them accessible to the global science community. They become a resource that can be studied in multiple contexts–as part of an ecosystem or as a member of a particular plant family, for example.

Read More »
Group of students practice tai chi
Learn

Meditation in Motion: Discovering Tai Chi

Slow, deliberate, beautiful movement is the essence of tai chi. A practice that melds the mind and the body, tai chi improves balance and muscle strength while reducing stress and calming the mind. And you can learn all about it in the Garden’s upcoming wellness series, 24-Form Tai Chi.

Read More »
Two yellow lemons on a tree
Garden

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Citrus Trees

Picture it: you wake on a lovely fall day, walk onto your patio and pick a Satsuma mandarin from your very own tree. You peel back back the bright orange skin and bite into a perfectly ripe, tart yet sweet, orange. This could be you–with a little time, a little knowledge and a citrus tree of your own. The good news? You can find the knowledge and the trees at the upcoming Fall Plant Sale. The time you’ll need to provide yourself.

Read More »
Spray of water from an outdoor fountain
Garden

The Wonder of Water: Take your Garden to the Next Level with a Water Feature

We love our water features at the Garden, especially in the heat of summer. The long, tranquil basin that greets guests as soon as they enter the gates, the gushing fountain that stands in the center of the Rose Garden, the serene koi ponds of the Japanese Garden—there’s nothing else like the relaxing sound and sight of water. What if you could bring that peace and serenity back home with you? With a little time and effort, you can—with water features for your home garden.

Read More »
Mother and daughters on the way to school
Newsletter

Strengthen Family Connections with Back-to-School Traditions

The start of a new school year can be both stressful and thrilling. Certainly for families with school-age children, it’s a time of nervous preparation, of anxiety about the year ahead, of shopping and scheduling and strategizing. But mixed into that stress is excitement about new things to learn and new friends to meet. To foster excitement and reduce anxiety, Education Program Coordinator Joanne Howard encourages families to mark the start of the new school year by establishing family traditions.

Read More »