The Garden is now open for normal business hours!
Follow the yellow brick room into a land of enchantment & make-believe where little pirates can sail the high seas on The Pirate Queen, fairies can have tea in fairyland & kids can climb towards the clouds in our tree fort!  The Woodland Cafe waits in Hobbitville for kids to create mud pies or mud cakes, the rain forest beckons kids to run through the cool mist & our costume room welcomes kids to dress up for creative fun! We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and public charitable organization and rely on admission and donations to support our mission, which is to keep kids connected to nature.  We do so through fostering imaginative play as well as offering weekly nature and art programs for children.  We hope to see you soon!
Hours of operation
Tuesday through Sunday: 10:00am - 4:00pm
Closed Mondays
Admission
Adults and Teens 13 years & up: $10 +tax
Seniors 60+years and Military: $9+tax
Children 3 years & up: $6 +tax
Infants and toddlers 2 & under visit for free!
Check out our upcoming nature, gardening, and art programs below, or click on the Calendar button to view all of our events coming up in the next month and keep your kids connected to nature. Each class is designed for kids of all ages! Please note, all classes are parent supervised. 
  • ​Tuesday, October 8th, 11am Foil Printed Fall Trees We’re getting creative and messy this morning by using crunched foil and paint to make fall tree art to bring home.
  • Thursday, October 10th, 11am All About Bats What lives upside down and can fly, but has no feathers? Stella Luna, that's who! We are reading her story and following it with a bat-themed craft, along with a bat ring to take home.
  • Tuesday, October 15th, 11am Come Paint Your Pumpkin Wear your painting shirt! Detwiler’s has kindly donated pumpkins for us today - Come and paint your own pumpkin to bring home! Pumpkin painting is available for a $5 donation, separate from the cost of admission.
  • Friday, October 18th, 11am Runaway Pumpkin Today, we’ll meet at the stage at 11 o'clock sharp for a reading of “The Runaway Pumpkin,” before decorating festive pumpkin wands with ribbons, beads & a pumpkin bell.
Dragon Egg Hunt!
Saturday, October 26th,10am

Put on your costumes and join us for our annual Halloween scavenger hunt and find your own dragon eggs with treasure and candy inside. The hunt begins at 10:15am sharp!  How quickly can you find the dragon's eggs? As a special treat, we will be handing out FREE SCOOPS at the garden starting at 11am!
Tickets for this event are only available by prepayment.  The cost is $5+tax for each child participating in the Dragon Egg Hunt, in addition to the cost of admission - Members only pay event fee.  Tickets are available on our website through Paypal or at the gift shop. Refunds available until two weeks prior to the egg hunt.
Bubble & Brew Witches Party
Sunday, October 27th,10am-11am

The Garden has transformed into a Witches Garden! Follow the clues in your Spooky Nature Scavenger Hunt to find all of your ingredients before visiting the Bubble & Brew potion station. Afterwards, we will read a cute story about a witch 
and her animal friends called “Room on the Broom" with a cute witchy coloring page, then we'll make little wich necklaces. Don't forget to grab your "Hocus Pocus" trick-or-treat bag before you leave!
Tickets for this event are only available by prepayment. The cost is $5+tax for each child participating in the Witches Party, in addition to the cost of admission - Members only pay event fee.  Tickets are available on our website through Paypal or at the gift shop. Refunds available until two weeks prior to the Witches Party.

Our Newsletter for October is Now Available!

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Birthday Parties at The Garden 

Want to make your next celebration magical?  The Garden is completely outdoors with lots of room for your party of up to 30 guests.  To make your party even more special, check out our Crafts-to-Go, unique and whimsical crafts & activities where we handle 100% of the prep! 

For more information on parties, visit our page here.
We have been included in the most recent article on the best field trip locations to visit in Florida by the international educational publisher Twinkl! 
​(You can learn more about field trips at The Children's Garden here)
Program ​Events: 
  • ​Nature Art Programs
Perfect for all age children!  From our "Sticks & Stones" program to our "Art Rocks" program and our "Wild crafting" program, kids will have fun creating their works of nature art!
  • ​Learn the Magic of Gardening in our Planting Programs! 
    We love getting our hands dirty and learning about our fruits & veggies.  Join us for one of our many gardening program like "Mama Mia We Are Making Our Own Pizza Garden", "Can You Dig It" & our "Munch Crunch Grow Your Own Lunch" gardening programs!  
Have you heard about our little plant nursery called Frog Fruit Farms? Now for Sale - your favorite plants from the garden and more! Pink Ball Dombeya that's ready to bloom, rooted fig trees in pots, succulents, bromeliads and more! Get a gift certificate today to buy plants, or use in our giftshop and admission! All sales support our nonprofit mission, "Keeping kids connected to nature!" Thank you!

The Children's Garden & Art Center is where the magic and fun begins!
Explore! Imagine! Make-Believe!

Just like "Alice", kids and adults alike will feel as if they have fallen down a rabbit's hole to "Wonderland"! Magic begins at the yellow brick road where entering the jasmine covered tunnel "The Black Pearl" awaits for little pirates to set sail, the Amazing Maze turns and twists down paths of intrigue and the Fairy Garden welcomes all fairies and elves for tea under the mushrooms.
Down the winding path you will find the Monster Garden where our giant green dragon "Snuffy" resides with her other fun & unusual monster friends.
 The 3 little pigs dare any big bad wolf to blow their houses down in our Butterfly Garden. Next door is our Caterpillar Cottage which hosts lots of birthday parties and celebrations with it's "Snow White" theme and twinkling lights.
Nature, gardening and art classes are taught weekly at the garden to nurture and teach children the beauty in Mother Nature. Whether it is our "Art Rocks" class, our "Munch Crunch Grow Your Lunch" class or our "Nature Explorers" class to name a few, our mission is to keep kids connected to nature at The Children's Garden & Art Center.
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The Children's Garden was created in 2003 by Joan Marie Condon who wanted a special place for children to come and leave the electronic world behind and discover new adventures in the natural world.  Together with her husband David, artisan sons Ray and Roy and daughter Robin Fulk, The Children's Garden is a small piece of wonder, a place for creative play and to find magic in Mother Nature.
 The Children's Garden & Art Center became a non-profit 501 C (3) and public charitable organization in the fall of 2009. We do yearly fundraisers for "All Faith's Food Bank", the "Humane Society of Sarasota" and "Make-A-Wish Foundation". Our wish is to continue our education classes in hopes of teaching  our children to become good stewards of the earth. Help support this safe haven for children of all ages!