Fun Alternatives to Easter Egg Hunts

Enjoy tree peonies and other flowers in bloom during
Easter weekend at Duke Gardens. Photo by Sue Lannon.

Easter egg hunts are great fun in your home, but they can create problems in Duke Gardens. We want to remind visitors that Easter egg hunts are not permitted in Duke Gardens, and to offer some fun ways for visitors—particularly youngsters—to celebrate Easter and enjoy all springtime visits together.

Why no Easter egg hunts at Duke Gardens? We ask visitors to refrain from egg hunts so that we can keep the fragile plants in this botanic garden safe from excited little hands and feet searching high and low for eggs and candies. We also ask visitors to help protect wildlife, so animals and birds won't try to eat the large number of forgotten eggs and candies later. Many people are unaware that chocolate can be especially harmful to dogs, and we want our visiting dogs to be safe, too. (In related news, please note that dogs are only permitted at Duke Gardens before 10 a.m. or after 5 p.m. More info here.)

What to do instead? We'd love to hear your ideas. Here are some of ours:

* Explore the Discovery Garden to see blueberries, kale, chard, peas, mustard and other yummy foods being grown. For children who've only ever seen these foods on a plate or in a grocery store, seeing where the plants are "born" can be fun.

* Play a game of Search with Your Eyes (not hands, please): Kids can have lots of fun looking all over the Gardens for signs of spring, from new buds to colorful blossoms. How many times can they find their favorite color? How about familiar shapes that appear in leaves and flowers? How many circles, triangles or squares can you find? If you visit our information desk before heading out into the Gardens, we'll give you a free Scavenger Hunt for young visitors to follow.

* Fun activities to print out in advance: Plan your family visit ahead of time with the following fun activities: Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden Exploration; Gardens Scavenger Hunt for Preschoolers; Sensory Scavenger Hunt; Structures Scavenger Hunt.

* Bird watch: From a great blue heron to a red-tailed hawk, a black-necked swan and many other species, lots of birds will be enjoying the spring weather in the Gardens this weekend. How many different birds can you spot? Any you've never seen before? Check out the informational signs at the Asiatic Arboretum Pond or the Bird Viewing Shelter in the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, and you can write down species names to learn more about when you get home.

* Shutterbug Madness: We'd love to see your favorite photos that celebrate spring in Duke Gardens. Please share them on our Facebook page, on Instagram (@sarahpdukegardens or tag #dukegardens) or email them to dukegardensphotos@yahoo.com.

*Easter Sunday Service: Join Duke Chapel Sunday for a 6:30 a.m. Easter Sunrise Service on the South Lawn of Duke Gardens. If you're coming for the sunrise service, please don't forget to bring a flashlight to help find your way to the lawn in the morning darkness, and a towel to wipe the dew from your chairs. If it rains, the services will be in Duke Chapel.

Thank you for joining us in celebrating spring and protecting the plants and animals that we all love.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens creates and nurtures an environment in the heart of Duke University for learning, inspiration and enjoyment through excellence in horticulture. Duke Gardens is at 420 Anderson St.

Free drop-in programs for families

Making music with "sound sandwiches"
at Family Fun Day

By Kate Blakely

Looking for a chance to enjoy the Gardens with your family? We love to see families visiting, learning and wondering together. Below are three activities for families coming up soon. From reading a story to performing a science experiment, kids and caregivers alike can learn together and create lots of good memories and maybe even a craft to take home and enjoy.

None of these activities requires registration. All are free.

Nature Storytime
1st Saturdays: April 7, May 5, June 2
3rd Thursdays: April 19, May 17, June 21
10:30-11:30 a.m.

Do you love curling up with a good book? Nature Storytime is a chance for children and their caregivers to come and hear a story read aloud outside in the Gardens. We’ll follow up the story with an activity that matches the theme of the book. Take advantage of the gorgeous weather and special seasonal splendors to enjoy some good learning and good literature. Visit the front desk of the Doris Duke Center to find out where to meet. You can find out the book and activity in advance on our website.

Nature Ranger Cart
Friday mornings in April, May and June
11a.m.-1p.m.

Young visitors to the Gardens can enjoy free activities at the Nature Ranger Cart. The cart is usually parked out by the dawn redwood tree near the foot of the Terrace Gardens, but visitors can always check in at the front desk of the Doris Duke Center to find out the exact location each Friday. Cart activities include books to read, nature-related crafts, even some do-it-yourself science experiments.

Family Fun Day
Sundays: April 15, April 29, May 6, May 20
noon-3p.m.

Want to make some slime? On Family Fun Days, activity tables with science experiments and nature-related crafts are set up in the Gardens. Create seed bombs, grape catapults or even “flying hoopsters.” You can probably guess what the first two are, but “flying hoopsters”? Come to these free events to find out how to make your own slime and just what “flying hoopsters” are!

Please dress appropriately for the weather. Don’t forget a hat or some sunblock, and maybe a water bottle. Also, please chaperone your youngest Gardens visitors. We love seeing families visiting together. Your visit will be so much more fun and rewarding that way.

Please read more here about new and returning programs for children and families.

Exploring nature with children

By Jan Little

Most of us live in some kind of building, one that we call home. But in a larger sense we live in the entire world. That world can be a mysterious place, or it can feel just like home. Imagine a child’s excitement when he can find evidence of animal and insect homes in his own back yard, or know which plants feed the butterflies. Families and children can learn together at Duke Gardens in a variety of classes for all ages.

Water is one of the topics we will explore in a class (pre-registration required) for children ages 6 to 8. Water is necessary for all life, but we rarely think about its source or the water cycle. Most children are surprised to learn that water is a limited resource; additional water is not being shipped in from outer space.
In the program “Drip Drop: Be a Raindrop for the Day,” we will consider how water moves around our planet, beginning by tracing its path in the garden. The children can imagine where they would go if they were raindrops, moving through the garden in drips and splashes or through small streams, watering the plants, and finally joining the ponds and pools before it moves beyond the Gardens’ borders.
Once we are in a watery frame of mind, we can then think about water as a transformer. Liquid, vapor, fog, ice, snow, sleet—how many forms of water can you think of? Regardless of its form, the water we sip today has been moving around this planet for a long time. The water in your cup could be the same water used by George Washington to cook his green beans, or Genghis Kahn could have washed his hands in those very same water molecules, or a dinosaur could have splashed through this water millions of years ago. Water doesn’t go away; it just transforms and moves around the planet over and over.
This class will include creating your own water cycle in a plastic bag, with a pond, land, and eventually a rainy sky for each child to take home and display on a window. All it takes to work is a sunny day.

Other programs to introduce your family to the magic of nature include free drop-in programs such as Nature Storytime and the science and craft activities offered during the four weeks of Fall Family Fun. During Fall Family Fun, you will have the opportunity to investigate the natural world in quick experiments or make a craft to take home. We will also have displays on different weekends of reptiles and amphibians or local wildlife.

Other classes this fall include an introduction to our animal neighbors in “Knock, Knock. Who’s There?” for ages 4 to 6. Their older siblings, ages 7 to 9, can track butterflies and dragonflies through the Garden, learning how these magical creatures partner with plants, in the program “Flying Flowers.”
Youngsters ages 3 to 5 can join us for a month of seasonal explorations in Nature for Sprouts. Children ages 8 and 9 can investigate the impact of trees and shade on temperature in “Shadow World,” and children ages 10 to 12 will complete a foraging experiment over two Saturdays in “Food Fight.” We end the season with the program “Shelter,” which explores the function of shelter as each child builds a shelter and then measures its effectiveness at managing wind, weather, and water.
INFORMATION: For all of these programs, you can get full information at gardens.duke.edu, including a PDF download of our entire July-Dec. events program (or see a quick list in this blog entry). To register, please call 668-1707 or write to slsmith@duke.edu.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens creates and nurtures an environment in the heart of Duke University for learning, inspiration and enjoyment through excellence in horticulture. The Gardens is at 420 Anderson St.

Jan Little is the Gardens’ director of education and public programs. This column first appeared in the Durham Herald-Sun.