~The Beautiful Japanese Gardens, Fort Worth, TX~
The first job my dad had that I remember was as manager of the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. Take your daughter to work day meant ducking in the back door of the Japanese Garden when no one else was there, and grabbing a coffee can full of fish food for the koi. Then, I would skip across the stepping stones and spend the sunny afternoon with my mom and my sister wandering through the colorful maples and serene trickling fountains.
~Playing in Texas Town at Dallas Arboretum~
It’s no wonder that I still think of gardens and arboretums as my happy place, and want to share that love of nature with my kids. My experience with my little boys and gardens has been vastly different than my own childhood memories. While, even as a child, I was thrilled to take a slow pace and a contemplative stroll in the garden, my boys expect to encounter any environment with a more “hands-on” approach. They are thrilled to tour a garden and spend some time in nature, just as long as there is something to do.
~Toad Corner, Dallas Arboretum~
Our local garden, the Dallas Arboretum, does a great job of providing play opportunities to entice younger visitors. Texas Town, with its miniature playhouses has always been a favorite for my kids. Of course, no warm weather visit is complete without a visit to Toad Corner, where spitting frog fountains dare kids not to get completely soaked. The Arboretum also presents a special exhibit that changes annually and affords kids a fresh way to enjoy the garden. This year the garden outdid itself by presenting the Chihuly exhibit, and a companion exhibit for kids that featured playhouses inspired by great paintings of famous artists.
~Chihuly Nights at the Dallas Arboretum~
In hopes of regularly sharing the wonders of nature with my kids, I have often thought about buying a season pass to the Dallas Arboretum. As much as I loved the offerings of the Arboretum, there just wasn’t quite enough to warrant coming more than once or twice a year.
That is all about to change.
Spring of 2013 will welcome the opening of The Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden! The garden will be an eight acre laboratory where children will be immersed in nature while making real world connections in sixteen indoor and outdoor “learning rooms.”
~The Children's Adventure Garden Under Construction~
I am truly, passionately excited about the entertaining learning opportunities that will be packed into this complex and constantly evolving space. I am thrilled that the Dallas Arboretum had the vision to create a space where children could learn about nature in a way that is meaningful to them-by doing, touching, exploring, and creating.
Let me just share some of the highlights of this revolutionary natural space:
And that’s not all. There are over 150 interactive exhibits in the Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden, and I cannot wait to explore each one again and again with my children. A season pass to Dallas Arboretum will be a must this year and many, many visits to the Children’s Adventure Garden will make it worth every penny. Spring 2013 can’t come soon enough.
~The Dallas Arboretum provided me with a complimentary ticket to the garden to see the constructions progress. They did not require that I express a particular viewpoint and all opinions are my own~