Every Kindergartner in the Garden

Empower your kindergartner to start their environmental education journey with a field trip to the Botanical Garden of the Piedmont. We will include hands-on activities that use kindergarten standards applied to the outdoors. Rather than introducing names and data, we’ll focus on comparing, contrasting, and noticing? Taking advantage of the basic senses to hear bird calls, see leaf shapes, smell crushed leaves, and touch bark, flowers, and nuts.

Who: Kindergartners
How long: About 1 – 1.5 hours
How many: 10-60 students divided into smaller groups of ten each (not including adult chaperones)
FREE and Open to the Public

Email us at programs@piedmontgarden.org if you’d like to sign up a group!

Grow to Know

Learn about the outdoors and help grow this special Garden focused on native and site adaptive habitats that support pollinators and more.

Grow the Garden site by tending plants, trails, and more. (30-120 minutes)
Know more after your visit highlights a piece of the natural world in the Garden as an expert introduces you to their specialty, such as trees, birds, or bugs. (30-60 minutes)

Who: Groups aged Kindergarten-Seniors
How long: 1-3 hours scalable
How many: Up to 40 total people per group
FREE and Open to the Public

Please fill out this form to schedule a Grow and Know Garden visit!

Cultivating Conservationists: Promoting Native Species, Pollinators, and Nature Literacy

Bring your students to the garden to learn about native plants and their pollinators.  They will learn about specific native host plants and the pollinators that support them.  They will see the pollinators in action on our flowering plants while learning ways to support the health of pollinators and native plants alike.

Who: Kids ages K through 5th grade
How long: About 1.5 hours
How many: 10-60 students per group (not including adult chaperones)
FREE and Open to the Public

Email us at programs@piedmontgarden.org if you’d like to sign up a group!

Explore the Garden with our new NEST Adventure Packs !

Borrow this special gear bag and create your own Garden adventure! Each NEST backpack includes an array of materials to help you as you explore. Become a community scientist with our binoculars, field guides, and iNaturalist instructions. The Adventure pack locker is located between the two Garden sheds, near the chalkboard.

Adventure Packs are free to check out!

1. Scan the QR code or complete the checkout form now.
2. You’ll receive a one-day passcode to open the on-site locker near the chalkboard.
3. Use the Adventure Pack during your visit and explore the Garden!
4. When you’re finished, return the Adventure Pack to the locker and make sure it is securely closed.

Little Nature Explorers

Little Nature Explorers is seasonal weekly outdoor program created for young children ages 3 to 5 and their caregivers. This free event takes place every Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. in the beautiful setting of the Garden. It combines early childhood learning with the magic of nature, offering a fresh experience each week.

Each session features a new topic that includes story time, hands-on art, and outdoor discovery. Through movement, creativity, and close observation, children explore the natural world in ways that are both educational and fun. The program encourages curiosity, builds sensory awareness, and fosters early connections to plants, animals, and the seasons.

Who: Kids ages 3 to 5
How long: About 1.25 hours
How many: No limit
FREE and Open to the Public

Create with Nature

Do you like art and music? Create with Nature gives children from K through 6th grade the opportunity to engage with new nature topics in a hands-on way through art and music. Students begin with a story time in the Garden featuring a book on nature. Following the reading, kids join a local artist to complete an art or performing arts project that features some aspect of the book they read. Create with Nature strives to enhance nature literacy by encouraging children to engage with new nature topics through hands-on opportunities. Through this creative outlet, our goal is to improve nature literacy and promote greater interest in the environment. If time allows, groups are invited to attend a nature walk around the Garden following the reading and project.

Who: Kids ages K through 6th grade
How long: About 1.5 hours
How many: 10-15 students per group (not including adult chaperones)
FREE and Open to the Public

Email us at programs@piedmontgarden.org if you’re an artist or musician interested in leading a session OR if you’d like to sign up a group!

Explore to Read

We invite children to journey along the Garden trails searching for the enlarged pages of a book about nature. You have to find the pages to finish the story!

Who: Kids ages K through 3rd grade
How long: About 1 hours
How many: 10-15 students per group (not including adult chaperones)
FREE and Open to the Public

Email us at programs@piedmontgarden.org if you’re an artist or musician interested in leading a session OR if you’d like to sign up a group!

Stream Restoration

Get your hands wet! Stream Water Testing is a citizen science opportunity for students to learn about stream health, water quality, what it means, and how to monitor it. We observe health and water quality through measurements and records taken of the Garden stream’s various features. In partnership with the Rivanna Conservation Alliance, we provide stream water test kits to students so they can learn about temperature, pH, organisms, as well as how to use the tools used to monitor these traits. We are monitoring the urban stream that runs through the Garden over time and are sharing the results on the website.

Who: Middle and high school students
How long: About 1.5 hours
How many: 10-15 students per group (not including adult chaperones)
FREE and Open to the Public

Email us at programs@piedmontgarden.org to inquire about signing up a group!

Stream Restoration Page Here.