Take a Child Outside Week

Gnome Hunt!

Tuesday, September 24, 2024 – Monday, September 30, 2024, during garden open hours

It's Take a Child Outside week!

Bring your family out to the garden to explore the gardens and participate in Take a Child Outside week. We know that being outside provides so many good benefits, from reducing stress and anxiety to promoting creativity to increasing connection with the natural world, so let's get outside!

A gnome and a Hakonechloa

We're celebrating TACO week this year by having a gnome hunt at the arboretum. We had a bus load of gnomes show up at our gates after taking a wrong turn on the way to their annual team-building conference in Boise, and they liked our garden so much they decided to stay. Of course, if the gnomes miss their annual team-building conference, they become very greedy and self-centered (and nobody wants a gnarcissistic gnome), so we need your help finding them all so we can send them on their way.

Stop by the Visitor Center during garden open hours and pick up a gnome list to guide you as you search the arboretum making sure no gnome gets left behind. Make it a group thing and invite friends to meet you for your adventure! Pack a snack or picnic lunch and be sure to bring your water bottle. There is no cost for the activity, but please consider a donation to help support this program and others like them for everyone to enjoy. Contributions will support the JC Raulston Arboretum Children's Program. A donation box will be set up to collect what you're able to contribute.

Take a Child Outside, September 24–30

An initiative of The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and inspired by Richard Louv's book Last Child in the Woods, Take a Child Outside week was founded to help connect children with nature.

Visit the Museum's Web site to find out more about this annual week and other locations to go explore the outdoors with your children.

Funds collected for the JC Raulston Arboretum Children's Program are collected and managed by The North Carolina Agricultural Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit, tax id 56-6049304.

Age: All Ages.
Cost: There is no cost for the activity, but please consider a donation to help support this program and others like them and the gardens for everyone to enjoy.
Registration: Registration is unavailable for this self-guided activity.
Location: Pick up your materials at the Bobby G. Wilder Visitor Center, JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University, 4415 Beryl Road, Raleigh, NC 27606.
Directions: Need directions? Click here.
Parking: Free parking is available at the JC Raulston Arboretum and along Beryl Road.
Questions: Contact the JCRA Education Team at jcraprograms@ncsu.edu for more information about this program.