Early positive experiences in nature can foster a lifelong appreciation and respect for the outdoors. These experiences provide the groundwork for future botanists, naturalists, horticulturists, and environmentalists. The Chicago Botanic Garden offers family programs that integrate science, art and language. The programs are designed to encourage families to learn together and are open-ended, enjoyable and discovery-based.

Saturday Classes
Programs cover a wide range of subjects and interests from worms, bulbs and snowflakes to gumballs, candles and ice cream. Preregistration is required. Click here for online registration. Call (847) 835-8363 for more information.

Preregistration is required. Click here for online registration.

Click here to print form for fax or mail-in registration.

Call (847) 835-8363 for more information.

Programs are designed to accommodate a range of learning styles and ability levels as well as the varying amount of time a family is able to commit to an activity. The programs feature hands-on activities and projects tailored for children ages 4 to 10 and an accompanying adult.

The programs aim to stimulate families in new ways to experience and connect with the Garden and each other.

Program Times
The programs are offered on Saturdays from January through May in both morning (9:30 to 11:00 a.m.) and afternoon (1:00 to 2:30 p.m.) sessions.

Prices
Member adult fee is $10, nonmember adult is $12, member child is $12 and nonmember child is $15.

Snow Sleuths -- January 21
Explore the wonders of winter! Make snow catchers and investigate different snowflake structures with a magnifier. Discover how snow helps plants and animals stay warm. Click here for online registration.
 
Buckets of Bulbs -- January 28
Do you miss flowers in the winter? Bring spring inside your house by helping bulbs to bloom in January and February.

Learn about a bulb’s insides by dissecting one and take a winter hike to discover how plants start life. Click here for online registration.
 
Growing a Tea Party -- February 4
Tea is a drink grown around the world—from China to Africa and from India to South America. Learn how tea is grown and harvested, explore tea “parties” in different cultures and create your own special herbal brew! Click here for online registration.
 
Chocolate: From Bean to Bar to Mocha Mania -- February 11
Discover the story behind this irresistible treat, from its South American roots to its Chicago candy connections. Examine parts of the cacao tree, learn how chocolate is harvested and processed, and make an Aztec chocolate drink. Take home the recipe and some of the ingredients, so your whole family can taste! Click here for online registration.
 
Gum Balls & Super Balls -- February 18
Discover the amazing chicle tree! Find out how it is used to make chewing gum and other rubber latex products. Make a bouncing ball to take home. Click here for online registration.
 
Homemade Ice Cream -- February 25
Vanilla is the most popular ice cream flavor in America. Examine the plant -- an orchid -- that gives us the vanilla bean, learn about where it grows and find out how it is harvested. Best of all, make a family-sized batch of vanilla ice cream! Click here for online registration.
 
Worm Worlds -- March 4
Discover how these wiggling creatures turn garbage into rich compost that some people call “black gold.”

Explore all different types of worms and their habitats. Create a family worm compost bin and learn how to make worm tea for plants at home. Click here for online registration.
 
Paper Making -- March 11
To watch pulp screened out of a vat, pressed and turned into a solid thing is a kind of magical experience for children and adults alike. Create paper from plant materials and learn how to make decorative cards to welcome spring. Click here for online registration.
 
Candle Dipping – March 18
Find out about plant and animal products used to illuminate the night before the invention of electricity. Discover the relationship between candles, bees and flowers. Make beeswax candles and fill your home with a flickering, historic light. Click here for online registration.
 
Japanese Dry Gardens – March 25
Discover the relationships between Japanese culture, history and Sansho-en, the Japanese Garden.

Design a dry garden using sand and rocks that you can change every day! Explore different ways to relax and enjoy your own Japanese garden at home. Click here for online registration.
 
First Plants of Spring – April 1
Take a scavenger hunt hike through the Garden to see how many flowers can you spy. Learn where these earliest messengers of spring like to grow, dissect a bulb and plant your own early spring flower. Click here for online registration.
 
Natural Fabric Dyeing -- April 8
Ever gotten grass stains on your pants? Plants and vegetables can be used to turn fabric all kinds of colors. Look for plants you might use to dye your clothes, learn about the fabric dyeing process, experiment with a variety of natural dyes and color a tee-shirt.
 Click here for online registration.

Secrets of Soap -- April 15
Discover the story behind soap making, from its stinky homemade beginnings to flower-scented mass-production. Experiment with soap and bubbles. Create soap using plant materials for the color, scent and texture. Click here for online registration.
 
Insect Investigations – April 29
Take a walk in the woods and collect samples of the forest floor. Examine soil specimens through a microscope to spot tiny bugs and critters.

Learn how and why bugs help the garden. Make special glasses to get a bug’s-eye view of your world at home. Click here for online registration.
 
Plant Pigment Paints – May 6
Plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables come in a rainbow of different colors. Find out which plants in the Garden supplied colors to artists from long ago.

Use plants to create art and mix up some plant-pigment paints to take home. Click here for online registration.
 
Miniature Gardens -- May 13
You don’t need a lot of space for a garden. Plant a take-home terrarium filled with miniature plants. For inspiration, we’ll take a special tour of the Railroad Garden and observe all kinds of small-scale plants, trees and flowers. Click here for online registration.
 
Container Gardens -- May 20
Gardens come in all shapes and sizes. Help plant a large summer container garden for the Chicago Botanic Garden, put together a smaller, family-sized one to take home, and find out how you can make a garden using recyclable items like a yogurt cup! Click here for online registration.
 
Dinosaur Plants – May 27
What kinds of plants were in your backyard millions of years ago? When did flowers begin to grow?

Examine fossils and some of the oldest types of plants. Learn how to plant and grow your own fern garden. Click here for online registration.

Looking forward to Summer 2006
Free programs for families will be offered from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday from May 27 through Oct. 8. Caregivers and children from ages 2 through 10 can explore, discover and create together during drop-in activities at the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Island.

A special feature of the 2006 season will be Japanese Garden Family Sundays on the first and third Sundays of each month from May 21 through Sept. 17. Families are invited to drop by the Japanese Garden for Japanese folktale storytelling and hands-on activities related to Japanese arts and culture, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Find out about member programs too!