Hershey Children's Garden
Help your whole family flourish.
Help your child disconnect from technology and discover the wonders of nature. As they explore plant and animal life, they’ll have a new appreciation for the environment.
They can become immersed in hands-on activities like:
- Observing honeybees in their hive
- Searching for fish, frogs and turtles in the pond
- Learning about veggie and herb gardens
- Exploring and playing in nature’s playground
- Creating in our sandbox
- Learning how to care for plants with our water pump
The Hershey Children’s Garden was one of the first of its kind in the country when it opened in 1999, and it still serves as a model for children’s gardens around the world.
Summer Drop-in Activities
Now Through August 28th
Come and spend part of your summer days in the garden this year! Besides our fountain, tree house and water pumps, we have fun daily activities planned for children of all ages (weather permitting). All summer long, explore to find all the items for our scavenger hunt and check in to see if we have a special mystery gardener to help you pot a seed!
Tuesdays: Story Time
11:00am-12:00pm
Children, with accompanying adults, will enjoy nature stories, songs and fingerplays followed by a hands-on activity under the tree house.
Wednesdays: Get Moving
11:00am-12:00pm & 3:00-4:00 pm
Let’s get moving! Come to the garden and work the wiggles out in the morning and the needing-to-get-outside-in-the-afternoon blues. Included with admission.
Thursdays: Garden Explorers
11:00am-12:00pm (select dates)
July 21, 2022
August 4, 11, 18, 25, 2022
Bring your budding young scientist to this staff or volunteer led garden exploration. Children will practice observation skills and enjoy fun activities. Included with admission.
Thursdays: Live at the Hive
10:15 – 11 am (Select Dates)
Come and see the Hershey Children’s Garden beehive up close on select dates from 10:15-11:00 am. Children will meet our beekeeper, learn about some of our native bees and suit up to get a bee’s eye view of the hive!
Registration is required, limited to 12 participants, including both children and their caregivers. No extra cost besides the price of admission. PreK and up, please!
Fridays: Senses in Our Gardens
11:00am-12:00pm & 3:00-4:00 pm
Come and use your senses in this staff lead tour of our garden and see what is interesting that week. Included with admission
Saturdays & Sundays: Kids Create
1:00-2:00pm
June- Art with Plants
July- Winter in July
August-Lazy Days of Summer
Included with admission.
Saturdays & Sundays: Fun With Box Turtles
3:00-4:00pm
Visit with one of our Eastern Box Turtles as they come outside to play this summer.
Included with admission.
Things to Discover
Goldenrod & Ironweed | Here are our two quintessential autumnal Ohio wildflowers. Although they aren’t the tamest of garden guests, at the back of a sunny pollinator plot, they are worth inviting to the party. There are also some sport-jacket and khakis cultivars that won’t frighten your more civilized garden |
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Here are our two quintessential autumnal Ohio wildflowers. Although they aren’t the tamest of garden guests, at the back of a sunny pollinator plot, they are worth inviting to the party. There are also some sport-jacket and khakis cultivars that won’t frighten your more civilized garden guests.
CUP FLOWER (Silphium perfoliatum) | Their sunflower-like blooms and forthcoming seeds drive bees and birds crazy, and their clasping cup-like leaf bases capture rainwater for the thirsty critters. A patch of cup flowers are perfect kid plants: bright, big, buzzing with animal life, and great to hide in!
Anemones | “Anenome” derives from the Greek anemos for “wind.” And that’s apt because these yardstick-tall flowers borne on wiry stems gracefully dance into the slightest wind. And if you know them as “Japanese anemones” they are in truth from Hupeh province in China but naturalized and |
more
“Anenome” derives from the Greek anemos for “wind.” And that’s apt because these yardstick-tall flowers borne on wiry stems gracefully dance into the slightest wind. And if you know them as “Japanese anemones” they are in truth from Hupeh province in China but naturalized and cherished in Japan.
Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) | I’m holding the camera above my head and this Midwest prairie native is still lookin’ down at me. Not many trees, but otherwise it’s still a height race for all prairie grasses and herb.
For your safety:
- We may limit the number of visitors inside this garden at one time
- Parents assume the risk associated with touching play surfaces and children congregating
Adults are responsible to actively supervise children in their care.
