The Dallas Arboretum’s Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden presents a plethora of fall-themed, hands-on activities and labs for the young and young at heart as a part of one of “The Best Fall Festivals to Celebrate the Season” by Country Living and MSN Travel – Autumn at the Arboretum. These activities are in addition to the festival’s nationally acclaimed Pumpkin Village and surrounding displays throughout the 66-acre garden, created with more than 75,000 pumpkins, gourds and squash.
Caelie Dunn, Director of Public Programs for the Children’s Adventure Garden, said, “In addition to the nationally acclaimed Pumpkin Village in the main garden, we have daily activities that bring science to life through fun and educational activities.”
DFW Child recognized the Arboretum as the “Best Place to Get Outdoors.” Autumn activities in the Children’s Adventure Garden include the following:
Monarch Madness Weeks
Destined for the warmer climates of Mexico, the monarch’s annual overwintering takes them on a 3,000 mile journey deep in the heart of Texas during the first weeks of October. Specially planted salvia, butterfly bush, lantana and gregg’s mist flower attract these regal and recognizable pollinators to the Arboretum. The Children’s Adventure Garden, a Certified Monarch Waystation, celebrates and studies the Monarchs this fall with Monarch Migration Activities.
Monarch Migration
Saturday, October 3 (with Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge)
Saturday, October 10 (with Texas Discovery Gardens)
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Monarch Migration activities take place on the Moody Oasis, a rooftop garden that is filled with plants that attract butterflies. Children can learn about the Monarch’s migration first hand, and a face painter will be there to paint butterflies.
Colorful Canopy Lab
October 13 – November 18, 11 a.m., 1 p.m. & 3 p.m.
Children and families can learn why leaves turn red, yellow, purple and orange in the fall. Guests will pull pigments out of leaves using chromatography in the Exploration Center Plant Lab.
The Dallas Opera’s Bastien and Bastienne
October 17, 11 a.m. & 1 p.m.
The Dallas Opera will perform live opera excerpts from Mozart’s Bastien and Bastienne in the Children’s Adventure Garden’s Glade Puppet Theater.
Halloween Monster Molecule Mist Lab
October 24 – November 1, 11 a.m., 1 p.m. & 3 p.m.
Guests can create a putrid potion (otherwise known as dry ice), and learn how matter shifts from a solid into a gas in the Exploration Center Plant Lab.
Sticker Treating
Friday, and Saturday, October 30 & 31
A twist on trick-or-treating, children are invited to discover the spooky side of nature by wearing their costumes to the Children’s Adventure Garden to receive stickers.
For a complete list of Children’s Adventure Garden activities and times, visit http://www.dallasarboretum.org/named-gardens-features/the-rory-meyers-childrens-adventure-garden.