The Gardens Experience
Lena Meijer Children's Garden
All areas of the Lena Meijer Children’s Garden invite children to play and explore. Whether in the Kids Sense Garden discovering leaves that feel like lambs ears, launching a boat in the Great Lakes, digging for buried fossils in the Rock Quarry or listening to a story about gardens, bugs, birds and more, The Children’s Garden offers plenty of opportunities for family fun!
- Enter through the full-size gate or through a mouse hole!
- In the Kid-Sense Garden find a leaf that feels like a lamb’s ear or discover a flower that looks like an eyeball; use your senses in this whimsical, sensory setting.
- Visit the Great Lakes Garden to launch a boat or build a bridge, then see if you can walk on all the Great Lakes states.
- Put on a puppet show in the Story-Telling Garden, complete with performance hut and amphitheater seats.
- Pretend to be a beaver in the Wooded Wetlands by entering the kid-sized beaver lodge.
- In the Rock Quarry dig for buried fossils and fossil factoids—with hands, shovels, or hand-operated diggers.
- Pretend to be a pioneer in the Log Cabin by playing skittles, weaving on a loom and unleashing your imagination.
- “Climb” into Treehouse Village via stairs or ramps, then sit in an enormous bird’s nest, play the “Who Lives Here” game, or look for giant insects.
- Stroll along the Sculpture Walk and meet Family of Wolves, Juggling Clown, Friendly Dragons and many other sculptures; spin the sculpture spinner to find the details.
- Follow the bricks of the Labyrinth until you find the center (no cheating!).
- Solve the Butterfly Maze by navigating past photo panels, playing steel drums and choosing the right paths.
- Sit, relax and enjoy the amazing creativity of topiaries and plantings.
Open year round, the Children’s Garden bursts with activity every summer—with discovery carts, story-time presentations, noon-time challenges and loads of fun. Visit the Children’s Garden and follow your curiosity.
Lena Meijer Children's Garden is sponsored by
