Garfield Park Conservatory

RSVP Playing outside in nature has many benefits to children of all ages: cognitive growth through open-ended exploration, physical opportunities of all kinds, social and emotional learning growth through problem solving and small group play, stress reduction, and even more. But how can children play outside during a cold Chicago winter? At the Garfield Park Conservatory, we are experts on nature play and run activities for kids of all ages four times a week. We want to teach parents and…

RSVP Playing outside in nature has many benefits to children of all ages: cognitive growth through open-ended exploration, physical opportunities of all kinds, social and emotional learning growth through problem solving and small group play, stress reduction, and more. STEM/STEAM is the combination of science, technology, engineering, art, and math. At first it may not seem like STEAM and nature play go hand in hand with their different goals, but at the Conservatory we've found that combining those concepts is…

RSVP It's spring, and here in Chicago we are all thinking about plants! Growing a garden with children, no matter what size the garden may be, is a rewarding activity with many benefits - not to mention the benefit of beautiful vegetables and flowers. Gardening helps develop positive social skills, teaches children about eating fruits and vegetables, and can even foster long term environmental stewardship. This sounds great, but how do you do it in real life? Let the expert…

RSVP Being in nature has many benefits to children of all ages: cognitive growth through open-ended exploration, physical opportunities of all kinds, social and emotional learning growth through problem solving and small group play, stress reduction, and even more. Nature journals are a way for kids of all ages to connect more deeply to what they find through creative processing. Nature journals are open ended journals that allow children (and adults!) to record their observations in whatever way they'd like.…