Talk a Walk Through a Book on the Garden’s Pollinator Pathway
School is out for the summer, and caregivers are always looking for fun activities to keep kids happy, busy–and learning. One suggestion from the Garden’s family education team: go on a StoryWalk®. “In a StoryWalk, the pages of a book are placed along a pathway to propel the reader along,” says Early Childhood Program Manager Cheryl Potemkin. “It makes reading an active experience involving movement, attention and reflection.”
Turn to Nature to Support Mental Health in Children
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, when Americans are urged to recognize the toll of mental illness, fight stigma and advocate for better support for the millions of people affected. One increasingly important area of focus: Children. Mental illness among children is caused by a bewildering array of factors, but no matter the exact situation, parents and other caregivers can adopt one simple strategy to buttress the mental health of the children and adolescents they love. They can foster a connection to nature.
Get in the Spirit of Spring by Reading these Books with Your Family
You can teach your children about spring in many ways. You can watch trees and shrubs leaf and bloom, explore patch of bluebonnets and dance in a spring rainstorm. In quiet moments, you can also read some of the great children’s books about the season.
Saturday Storytime Welcomes Families with Young Children Starting in February
“Story time” has a magical sound. What can be better than sitting with a favorite adult and hearing a new story read with enthusiasm and love? Fostering this kind of positive experience with books is one of the goals of the new Saturday Storytime program, which will begin in February.
In Defense of Plants (ZOOM)
In Defense of Plants
We will have special guest and author of the book, Matt Candeias, leading the discussion and taking questions!
The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants (ZOOM)
In this beautiful and empowering book, Jennifer Jewell—host of public radio’s award-winning program and podcast Cultivating Place—introduces 75 inspiring women. Working in wide-reaching fields that include botany, floral design, landscape architecture, farming, herbalism, and food justice, these influencers are creating change from the ground up.
Seeds of Hope (ZOOM)
In her wise and elegant new book, Jane Goodall blends her experience in nature with her enthusiasm for botany to give readers a deeper understanding of the world around us. Long before her work with chimpanzees, Goodall’s passion for the natural world sprouted in the backyard of her childhood home in England, where she climbed her beech tree and made elderberry wine with her grandmother.
Cancelled: A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind (ZOOM)
From injuries caused by lead poisoning to the devastating effects of atmospheric pollution, infectious disease, and industrial waste, Americans of color are harmed by environmental hazards in staggeringly disproportionate numbers.
A Sand County Almanac (ZOOM)
The environmental classic that redefined the way we think about the natural world—an urgent call for preservation that’s more timely than ever. These astonishing portraits of the natural world explore the breathtaking diversity of the unspoiled American landscape—the mountains and the prairies, the deserts and the coastlines.