Education
Very Young Visitors
Very Young Visitors—Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers
We welcome our youngest visitors. Early childhood education is a vital part of our overall education line-up and we recognize the significance of a variety of stimulating experiences for a child’s brain growth and development. Equally important, these programs are fun for children and parents alike.
ABCs of Life on a Farm is a pre-literacy program incorporating letters, sounds, flashcard words, farm chores and lots of fun. Designed for preschoolers and kindergarteners.
Then & Now: Down on the Farm compares past, present and future using farm chores and old-fashioned games. Designed for preschoolers and kindergarteners.
Activity Cards for the Lena Meijer Children’s Garden present imaginative, child-friendly activities to help families navigate ten areas of the children’s garden. Cards provide suggestions for three age/difficulty levels.
Animal Adventures in the Tropics, a family night for young visitors and their families, challenges participants to identify a tropical mystery animal. Use an action-packed worksheet to determine what the animal sees, smells, hears, eats and does in its habitat. Move from room to room to play animal games, listen to animal stories, make animal art and become part of a baby animal mural.
Summer camps for ages 4-5 are offered from mid-June through mid-August. Camps include Creature Feature, Silly Sculpture, Fun on the Farm, Happy Feet, Little Diggers and more.
Adult/Child Classes for ages 2-3 are offered periodically, incorporating age-appropriate activities based on gardens and sculpture.
Spring Break Classes for ages 3-4 focused on garden, animal and art-related themes are offered the first full week of April.
Hallowee-Ones, a special Halloween event for toddlers and preschoolers on October 30, includes a costume parade, nut hunt and mask making. Dress your child as a sculpture, an animal, fish, insect, bird, tree, plant, flower or any other way that highlights something about the children’s garden.
Kids’ tram tours are offered in the summer and fall. Integrating fun, interactive activities along the route, they are designed for ages two to eight. Tours include I Spy in the Sculpture Park, Alphabet Adventure, and Tree-riffic Trees.
Leaf Lookers, a kid-friendly guided tour for preschool groups in the fall, explores the textures, patterns and scents of leaves. Great practice for counting, sorting, measuring and color identification.
Story-time in the Lena Meijer Children’s Garden is presented twice daily from mid-June through mid-August using a variety of interactive stories about animals, plants, gardens, seasons, art and children.
Lena Meijer Children’s Garden itself is a wonderful world of exploration for very young visitors and their families.
