I love sharing about the educational opportunities available at San Antonio Botanical Gardens. In addition to their seasonal exhibits like Savage Gardens (which is going on through the rest of the year), the Garden has a wonderful selection of curriculum material on their website. Educational material can be found here.

We took full advantage of this resource this morning. The children and I met several other homeschool families from our local homeschool group at the Garden this morning. Together the children worked through the Junior Naturalist Program. Even with the hot and humid weather, the kids had a great time exploring the Garden and earning their Junior Naturalist Patch.

The Junior Naturalist booklet describe a junior naturalist as “someone ready to learn about plants and explore nature.” This program is designed to get children interested in learning about plants and exploring nature, so that they understand why plants are so important and worth protecting.

This booklet contains fourteen activities – some are game-type activities such as word unscrambles and decipher activities, and some are activities to be done while exploring the Garden.

To complete the Junior Naturalist program, children are expected to complete a certain amount of activities. For ages 3-5, children should complete 3 activities and one reflection question. For ages 6-8, children should complete 6 activities and two reflection questions. For ages 9-12, children should complete 9 activities and two reflection questions.

After working through the Junior Naturalist Program booklet, the children then receive a patch and are officially Junior Naturalists!