The Rory Meyers Children's Adventure Garden is an 8-acre interactive gardendesigned specifically to address state and national education standards in life, earth and environmental sciences. Children...
The Rory Meyers Children's Adventure Garden is an 8-acre interactive garden designed specifically to address state and national education standards in life, earth and environmental sciences. Children and adults will learn more about life and earth sciences in the 17 indoor and outdoor galleries that teach the areas in the K-6th grade curriculum standards that can best be taught outdoors. Some of these concepts include photosynthesis, pollination, the solar system, erosion, energy, life cycles and more.
Each year, more than 100,000 students visit the Dallas Arboretum for educational field trips, and the Arboretum anticipates that even more than children (and adults) will be amazed at this scientific museum without walls. Thousands more children visit with their families and friends.
There are more than 150 interactive exhibits, many using technology, such as the OmniGlobe, computer mystery games, spin browsers to see the unseen, Elmo screens and probes. Video screens and interactive features add excitement and anticipation to one's visit, and games throughout the garden will change with the seasons.
Each gallery has many hands-on exhibits as well as live plants and animals. Visitors are immersed in nature by exploring a full acre of wetlands, walking along the Texas Skywalk through the tree canopy, and playing on a 30-foot tree snag called A Walk in the Clouds.
The Dallas Arboretum has researched and meticulously planned the Children's Garden and each area has been designed with careful input from degreed educators in the field for scientific accuracy. In addition, Southern Methodist University's Annette Simmons Graduate School of Education is working with the Arboretum Education to evaluate the educational impact of the garden.
Sustainable features include rooftop gardens that reduce heat and energy usage, rain water reused for irrigation, low-flow plumbing and solar panels.
This project has been made possible by the generous support of the City of Dallas and private and corporate donors. Howard Meyers and his sons graciously donated the lead gift in honor of his wife and their mother, Rory Meyers, a well known community leader who has been a longtime member of the Dallas Arboretum board and chair of the Education Committee. The Dallas Arboretum named the garden after her.
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