It was lots of skipping, jumping, frolicking and dancing with the Mark Lamb Dance company amongst real life butterflies and Spring flowers this past weekend if you were in Brooklyn and experienced the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s FROLIC festival and grand opening of its new Discovery Garden.
Talk about a whale of a good time! My kids and I have not had this much fun discovering, smelling, touching and cavorting through the many gardens within the Garden as we did on Saturday. What a thrill! Making this Frolic even more special was the numerous activities and events planned around the new Discovery Garden’s grand opening located just inside of the Flatbush Avenue entrance.
The new Discovery Garden is a child’s outdoor dream of discovery —-designed by the award-winning firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. It encourages children to touch, examine and explore nature through hands-on experiences. From toddler to adult one can investigate plants and animals to uncover their mysteries or learn about the Garden and plant wildlife at many of the fun hand-on exhibits while also exploring the meadow, marsh, or the woodlands habitats throughout the Gardens.
Activities across the Garden that kept the kids excited included crafting their own butterfly antennae, going on a wondrous sonic scavenger hunt with stops in Brazil, India, Indonesia, West Africa and Australia. We then pranced across the Cherry Esplanade and bumped into all sorts of out-of-this-world larger than life moths and dragonflies all members of a clutch of fantastical creatures courtesy of Ralph Lee’s Mettawee River Theater Company who seamlessly cavorted amongst the Garden goers and through the bare cherry blossom trees and pathways. The excitement and looks of awe on people’s faces was addicting..
Go visit The Brooklyn Botanical Garden and check out the Discovery Garden. Hours: Tue- Fri :8am-6pm ; Sat and Sun: 10am-6pm ; Mondays: Closed
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