Garden Activity Kits

Garden Activity Kits are a great way to bring the gardens alive in your home while supporting the JCRA's Children's Program.

family enjoying activities in Garden Activity Kit

Kits include a children's fiction or non-fiction book for families to read together, activities that help families explore the topic deeper, plants or seeds, a special creation from the JCRA gardens, a guide with more ideas and information about the theme.

2022 Garden Activity Kits

May/June: Insects

Small Wonders: Jean-Henri Fabre and His World of Insects by Matthew Clark Smith, insect catching tool, insect sticker book, a lantana plant to attract insects to your garden, a scavenger hunt and monthly guide.

March/April: Busy Spring – Sold Out

Busy Spring by Sean Taylor and Alex Morss, child-sized gardening gloves and trowel, cosmos and zinnia seeds, seed starting supplies, a spring scavenger hunt, and monthly guide.

January/February: The Winter Garden – Sold Out

Winter's Sleep: A Hibernation Story by Sean Taylor and Alex Morss, materials to create an ice mold for decorating your winter garden, pinecones and birdseed to create treats for your birds friends, a fun snowy activity, and a winter scavenger hunt.

Purchase Garden Activity Kits

Garden Activity Kits are available in limited quantities and available for purchase in our online e-store. Kits can either be picked up from the Arboretum or shipped for an additional fee. Any kit being shipped must be designated as such and the additional fee paid at the time of order.

Purchase a Garden Activity Kit

2021 Garden Activity Kit Themes

Area families fell in love with the kits in 2021, and many of the 2021 kits sold out each month. Here are some of the themes we explored through the kits:

  • Bulbs (And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano)
  • Birds (Ruby's Birds by Mya Thompson)
  • Weather (Look at the Weather by Britta Teckentrup)
  • Flowers (What's Inside A Flower? by Rachel Ignotofsky)
  • Bees (The Bee Book by Charlotte Milner)
  • Butterflies (The Amazing Life Cycle of Butterflies by Kay Barnham)
  • Water (Cactus Hotel by Brenda Z. Guiberson)
  • Summer Harvest (Right This Very Minute by Lisl H. Detlefsen)
  • Leaves and Trees (This Tree Counts! by Alison Formento)
  • The Garden at Night (Flashlight by Lizi Boyd)
  • Holiday Creations (The Shortest Day by Wendy Pfeffer)