Monk Botanical Gardens recently added a slew of recurring activities for families and children. Last week, my two kids and I had the pleasure of attending a Tots ‘n Trees class. The gardens are located 2.5 miles North of downtown Wausau. The parking is free, and once inside the gate, there are gravel paths that traverse the gardens.
We arrived a few minutes early and signed in at the Kitchen Potager. While we waited for the class to begin, we had fun walking around the adjacent vegetable gardens. The Tots ‘n Trees class is $2/child for members and $4/child for non-members. It’s recommended that you register ahead of time and the class is capped at 15 kids.
The class began with a quick introduction and then it was snack time. The snack was a tree (broccoli) growing in soil (chocolate pudding) with small rocks (crumbled graham crackers). I appreciated that there were recycling bins for the cups and spoons.
Next, it was craft time! The Education Coordinator and her employees handed out cups for collecting dirt. The tots excitedly walked over to the patch of loose soil and thoughtfully scooped dirt into their cups. I’m sure many of the kids would have been content to spend all day digging in the dirt, but it was just the first step in making the craft.
Water was added to their cups, and the kids were given a popsicle stick to mix their mud. As we sat at the tables, the kids selected a paint color which was added to their mud. With fingers, brushes, broccoli or whole hands, the kids smeared their mud-paint on a piece of paper.
I really appreciated the freedom they were given to experience the mud and they had a great time too! (There are bathrooms in the Kitchen Potager, which made for convenient clean-up afterwards.)
The last activity was listening to an educational book about trees. After the end of the class, many families took the opportunity to explore the tree house and the other themed gardens.
Monk Botanical Gardens is open to the public 365 days a week from dawn until dusk. The entire property is gated to keep deer out, but visitors can enter through the gate any time during open hours. Although there is no fee to enjoy the gardens, I would still recommend trying one of their programs for families. Tots ‘n Trees meets again on July 17th & August 7th from 10:00 – 11:00am.
My two suggestions for future classes would be teaching kids about different varieties of trees and how to identify them, and including a guided tour or scavenger hunt in one of the gardens. We had a great experience, and we’re planning to sign up for another class sometime soon!
I want to thank Monk Botanical Gardens for inviting me to review this program. Although our class fees were generously waived, this in no way influenced my opinions in this review.