The Children’s Discovery Garden proudly anchors a family-friendly corner boasting many different things to do, learn & enjoy – also see, taste, touch, hear & smell… the five distinct senses that help us experience the world around us.  Another important sense for growing children is their SENSE OF WONDER– nurturing their imagination & creativity.

That’s where our Children’s Discovery Garden comes into play with five fun & exciting areas that highlight the natural world around us.  As you approach our colorful corner, have fun peeking out through one of three Habitat Photo Boards, pretending to be one of the Forest, Meadow or Pond inhabitants.  Stop & pick a tasty apple off the Wegmans Apple Tree!

Upon entering the middle portion of the Children’s Discovery Garden, parents and children are offered various nature craft activities & games.  Volunteers will help children make their own unique versions of fragrant flowers, as well as pot up small plants to take home for their own gardens.  Kids can test their noses by matching up various scents.  Parents will also find spots to rest on benches and boulders, and kids can collect their rewards for completing the CNY Blooms Discovery Scavenger Hunt. 

The largest area is all along the back of the Children’s Discovery Garden, giving children a walk-through imaginative display of how the five senses play important roles in understanding three local habitats.   Enter across the long dry stream bed on one of three stone bridges.  On the left end is the Forest, featuring sensory displays along with other related woodland plants and animals.  Pretend you’re a bird in the kid-sized birds nest! Along the middle is the Meadow, where children can experience this habitat through their senses, get up close to the huge living willow tree sculpture, and hunt for buried creatures in the Discovery Dig.  Listen all around to the calls of wild birds!  The final portion speaks of Pond habitat, letting children step across the ‘pond’ stones & experience wetland creatures in a bubbling fountain setting.

The fourth area is the Children’s Discovery Garden Performance Stage.  Children can gather here throughout the show on the stumps and rugs to hear scheduled entertaining performances, enjoy book readings about the 5 senses, see live animal displays or learn about our natural world from local environmental educators.  Close by to the stage, kids and their parents will appreciate coat racks, stroller parking and a family-friendly food concession and seating area.  Children (& adults) can also enjoy professional face painting.

Come visit and learn from wonderful local non-profit organizations in our fifth area, located across from the Children’s Discovery Garden.  Interactive displays and dedicated educators from the M.O.S.T., Beaver Lake Nature Center, Baltimore Woods Nature Center, O.C.R.R.A. and MaxMan Reptile Rescue will certainly add to our children’s excitement, experience, knowledge and, of course, Sense of Wonder.