Children Wrap Up Autumn at The New York Botanical Garden

The fall season is coming to a close but there is still so much on display for all to see. Reds, yellows and other colors in between are shimmering on the trees, vying for attention. Visitors can check out other autumn highlights such as bright red berries peeking out from the shrubs and plump orange pumpkins. In addition to the autumn activities the Garden is also gearing up for the holiday season in preparation for Thanksgiving and Christmas. In celebration of the seasons the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden—a unique 12-acre indoor/outdoor science museum for children—is offering fun activities for children and their families.

Beautiful Birds of Fall: Going on now through November 16, 2003. Observe our winged visitors before some say good-bye for the winter. Children investigate these feathery inhabitants in the Adventure Garden. They learn to look and listen for our special guests and investigate their amazing diversity of feathers and habitat. Activities include making a bird’s nest and a bird feeder to take home, start a birding journal, and discover the amazing diversity of feathers, eggs, nests, and songs.

Travels of a Plant Scientist in the Bendheim Herbarium—Friday, November 21, 2003-April 2004. An exhibit in the Bendheim Global Greenhouse in the Adventure Garden invites children to explore what life is like for a traveling plant scientist. Children sit in a botanist’s tent, use scientific tools, read jungle field journals, and contribute field drawings to the Garden’s wall journal.

Gingerbread Adventures in the Adventure Garden—Friday, November 21 through Sunday, January 11, 2004. This holiday season children and their families learn different plants and the plant parts that go into making this scrumptious holiday delicacy. Discover that cinnamon comes from the bark of the tree and ginger root from an underground stem. Children and their families experience hands-on fun grinding pieces of different plant parts–raw sugar, cloves, wheat seeds, and bits of ginger. Children make field notebooks and fill it with plant parts, investigate the different plant parts used in a gingerbread recipe under a microscope, make spice scented herbal sachets and decorative ornaments to bring home. Everyone ends the gingerbread experience by decorating a gingerbread cookie with icing and tasting the final scrumptious product!

Holiday Trains and Treats in the Adventure Garden—Friday November 21, 2003 - Friday, January 9, 2004

Delve into the holiday treat gingerbread in the Adventure Garden, where students discover the plant parts in gingerbread and taste a gingerbread treat.

Budding Botanists, a drop-in program for 2-5 year olds Tuesday–Friday, 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. is where preschoolers learn their ABC’s. Children get creative and explore fun words that go with each letter.

November 11-21: W is for Wood, Wings, and Woodpeckers; November 25-December 5: X is for Xylem and X-treme gardens.#

Every day the Garden offers something new for children to investigate. For more information call (718) 817-8700 or visit us on the web at www.nybg.org. The Everett Children’s Adventure Garden has been made possible by the leadership generosity of Edith and Henry Everett.

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