Thursday, July 22 12:15 – 8:15 pm

Kidspace Children’s Museum and the Huntington Botanical Garden

On Thursday afternoon the garden explorations will take you to two gardens that are specifically designed to engage children and youth in the exploration of plants and the world around them. The first stop will be at Kidspace Children’s Museum which features interactive learning environments and complementary educational programs designed to stimulate young minds through play. With more than 2 acres of outdoor learning environments, including gardens designed by Nancy Goslee Power.

Departing Kidspace you will continue on to The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens home to the Helen and Peter Bing Children’s Garden and The Rose Hills Foundation Conservatory for Botanical Science. The Children’s Garden provides young visitors, primarily ages two to seven, with hands-on experiences that demonstrate scientific principles related to earth, fire, air, and water amidst the whimsical and interactive garden elements. Stepping in the Conservatory you will delve in the strange and wonderful world of plants as you experience the award-winning exhibition “Plants are up to Something,” an innovative model for how botanical gardens can become a cornerstone in science education and the ideal place for inspired, interactive science learning. The visit to Huntington will include a round of concurrent educational sessions at the gardens Botanical Education Center. Following the sessions you will be taken on a progressive dinner through the garden, experiencing the collections and gardens as you dine.

Friday, July 24 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Friday Concurrent Garden Explorations
Please select your first and second choice for Friday’s Garden Explorations.

Environmental Educational Programs

Experience some of A's unique environmental educational initiatives as you go on a "green" tour at TreePeople, an environmental nonprofit that unites the power of trees, people, and technology to grow a sustainable future for la. The tour gets even greener as you visit The Audubon Center at Debs Park, which has received Platinum LEED status by the U.S. Building Council. As part of the Audubon Society's focus on establishing Centers in urban and underserved communities, the educational programs provides for 50,000 schoolchildren who live within two miles of the park.

Garden Programs at Public Gardens

Descanso Gardens and the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden have identified unique avenues to engage children and youth in gardening that do not depend on built environments. Instead the engagement is through programs that utilize the unique resources and collections of the gardens. At Descanso Gardens you will get to see the Harvest Garden, which for nearly 50 years has been providing students with special needs educational enrichment, vocational skills and therapeutic benefits through hands-on gardening. Meet the students and hear about their experiences of seed-to-table as they proudly harvest, cook and share the fruits of their labor.

At the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden you will experience firsthand the Arboretum’s new permaculture educational program. A concept created by Bill Mollison, permaculture is a holistic approach to land use design, based on ecological principles and patterns; aiming to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs, harmoniously integrating the land with people. Learn how students can take an active role in identifying challenges and transforming them into solutions and why permaculture is ideal for school grounds or community gardens. In addition to the permaculture program you will have the opportunity to experience the Arboretum’s other gardening and nature based programs.

School Gardens

This tour will highlight the diversity of school gardens in the LA area including North Hollywood High School, Milagro Allegro Community Garden, and 24th Street Elementary School.

North Hollywood High School is the largest remaining agriculture program in Los Angeles Unified School District. With one Ag Teacher and 200 students, the 7-acre site is home to the Cocoxochitl Flower Farm, a vineyard, orchard, rose gardens, chickens, rabbits, one 300 pound pig and over 5,000 dahlias. The students sell their harvest from the year-round working urban farm at the nearby Hollywood Farmer's Market.

The Milagro Allegro Community Garden is the venue for LA Sprouts, a collaborative effort by local and state initiatives, including the University of California Cooperative Extension Common Ground Program, to teach nutrition, cooking, and gardening principles to fourth and fifth graders.

24th Street Elementary, a pilot school of the Garden School Foundation. Through a multi-year evolution from a blacktop to a prosperous garden, the 3/4-acre area now contains a fully-operational kitchen garden and orchard where students plant, harvest, and cook vegetables. The garden includes an outdoor teaching area, shade structures, shed, council circles, and straw paths throughout the space.

Have questions or need more information?
Visit http://www.ahs.org, e-mail youthprograms@ahs.org, or call 703-768-5700 x 132.