Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden
Calling All Adventurers!
It’s time to embark on a journey through the Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden. Step into a world of wonder, where curiosity knows no bounds. Explore interactive exhibits, whimsical gardens, and hands-on STEM activities that spark imagination and delight. It’s an educational experience disguised as pure fun.
Admission: Enhance your Dallas Arboretum experience by exploring the Children’s Adventure Garden. Admission is available as a $3 add-on to general garden admission.
Halloween Spooktacular Nights
October 25 & 26
6:00-8:00pm
Join us for Halloween fun in the Children’s Adventure Garden with food vendors (for purchase), candy stops, STEM activities, and a black-light bubble dance party!
Programs in the Children’s Adventure Garden
Walne Family Discovery Lab
Exploration Center
Weekday – 12:30am, 2:00pm, & 3:30pm
Weekend – 11:00am, 12:30pm, 2:00pm, & 3:30pm
The Walne Family Discovery Lab is a unique, in-depth opportunity to experience hands-on STEM learning in the Exploration Center. Stop by the counter and try your hand at daily experiments and explorations led by an experienced Arboretum educator. With multiple chances to learn each day and rotating experiments every week, there’s always something new to learn. Please note that the Walne Family Discovery Lab is for ages 6 & up.
Schedule
- Week of 9/23: Seed Dispersal Lab
- Week of 9/30: Magnetic Monarchs
- Week of 10/7: Shiny Shimmer
- Week of 10/15: Pumpkin Dissection
- Week of 10/21: Worm Investigations
- Week of 10/28: Monster Molecule Mist – Halloween Lab
- Week of 11/4: Rockin’ Science
- Week of 11/12: Colorful Canopy
OmniGlobe
Exploration Center
Weekday: 2:30pm & 4:00pm
Weekend: 11:30am, 2:30pm & 4:00pm
The OmniGlobe is an “out of this world” experience in the Exploration Center you’ll have to see to believe! This six-foot sphere is illuminated by two projectors inside which can create expansive images of planets, the Sun, and even the Earth’s weather patterns, ocean currents and so much more.
September – Volatile Volcanoes
October – Animal Migrations
November – Shakin’ and Quakiin’
Little Adventurers Activities
Storytime: Weekdays at 10:30am
Location: First Adventure
Puppet Show: Weekends at 10:30am & 1:30pm
Location: The Glade
Presented by: Primrose Schools in Dallas – Fort Worth
Join us during the week for storytime, where we explore seasonal and thematic storybooks. During this 10-15 minute program, our tiniest guests (0-5years) will explore concepts related to nature, science, and holidays. On the weekends, join us for Puppet Shows in The Glade, where we will join some garden critters as they share their experiences in the natural world around us.
STEM Stops
Weekday
1:30 & 3:00pm
Weekend
STEM Stop A: 10am – 12pm
STEM Stop B: 1 – 3pm
STEM Stops are your chance to stop and experience in-depth science and STEM learning in the Children’s Adventure Garden! Join facilitators throughout various galleries as they share fun experiments and real scientific specimens for you to explore that relate to the topic of each gallery. STEM Stops are “come-n-go,” so each experience is guided by YOU and your discovery journey.
9/21-9/29 Honeybee Anatomy (A) | Pin the Pollinator (B)
9/30-10/20 Monarchs on the Move (A) | The Life Cycle of a Butterfly (B)
10/21-11/3 Bats and Boos (A) | Spidey Senses (B)
11/4-11/17 Rockin’ Art (A) | Evidence of the Past (B)
Leveled Up Adventures
Schedule
- 9/30 Bats and Boos
- 10/7 Un-Be-Leafable
- 10/14 Spidey Senses
- 10/21 Worm Investigations
- 10/28 Rockin’ Art
- 11/4 The Life Cycle of a Pecan Tree
- 11/11 Can You Dig It?
Special Activities in the Children’s Adventure Garden
Countless Ways to Explore
The Children’s Garden encompasses several galleries, each designed to be age-specific, but not age-restrictive.
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![Entry signage]()
Entry Plaza
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![Ant sculpture outdoors]()
First Adventure
This walled garden allows the youngest visitors to play in natural settings and be introduced to science. Its safe and enchanting features include a caterpillar maze, a sandbox, giant acorns and insects, mushroom seats and tables, a potting shed, a tree house, a babbling brook and a plant petting zoo.
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![children outdoors spinning an interactive food wheel]()
The Incredible Edible Garden
Vegetables, grains and interactive exhibits help children, particularly urban children, learn that food comes from plants. In this garden, they learn about good nutrition, the multicultural aspects of food and economic botany.
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![grapes on a vine]()
The Orchard and Vineyard
This area is a beautiful extension of the Incredible Edible Garden, which teaches that food also comes from trees, shrubs and vines.
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![Children outdoors playing with an interactive display]()
Plants are Alive
An inside look at the life of plants that helps young children discover how plants live and grow. In this area the plants are large, including 16-foot-tall flower-filled pots. Activities include a plant-part scavenger hunt and an area that teaches the parts of a flower by assembling a 3-D flower puzzle.
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![Children outdoors looking through a giant kaleidoscope]()
Kaleidoscope
Located in a horticulturally beautiful area focused on plant formation and structures, it includes two kaleidoscopes—one of which is 6 feet long— to show patterns and shapes, refraction and reflection. The rest of the gallery shows the world of patterns, shapes and structures in nature and integrates concepts of science, math, art and architecture. Children also learn about fractals, tessellations, symmetry and the Fibonacci sequence.
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![Outdoor area overlooking a pond]()
The Oasis
A rooftop display garden that is beautiful in every season, the Oasis offers a lovely high spot in the center of the garden for visitors to relax and view the nearby learning galleries. Programming changes with the horticultural display.
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![outdoor conopy of trees with architectural skywalk]()
Texas Skywalk
An elevated walk that’s 240 feet long through the tree canopy in the heart of the children’s garden, The Skywalk invites visitors to discover the benefits of trees and demonstrates what lives in the treetops.
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![fountain area with architectural undulating canopy]()
Pure Energy
Here, children investigate how energy from the natural sources of wind, sun and water can be transformed into electricity for our use. An energy tower, shooting water pistols and sun blasters are additional features that teach these concepts.
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![child looking at a field of grass up close]()
Living Cycles
In this learning room, children observe change and the circle of life, from changing seasons and plant and animal life cycles to pollination, metamorphosis and decomposition.
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![signage that says space in front of a large climbing tower]()
Habitats
This 500-linear-foot trail through a woodland ecosystem helps children learn about the interconnections among people, plants and animals. An adventure bridge, a 30-foot tree snag and a canopy walk above the habitat trail add excitement and challenge.
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![Children with their hands in the water at an interactive exhibit]()
Earth Cycles
Children actively explore a cave, rock and water cycles, a weather station, fossils and the solar system. There are many interactive exhibits that teach weathering, erosion, decomposition, water cycle patterns, interactive weather forces, and the interactions of the sun, moon and earth.
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![trail through vegetation]()
The Walk on the Wild Side
This discovery trail includes switchbacks with tracks in the path along the way to help visitors guess which native animal or plant is hiding around the next turn.
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![Indoor area with chairs]()
Exploration Center with OmniGlobe
This 9,100-square-foot building employs innovative exhibits and interactive technology to engage children in all aspects of life and earth science exploration. Features include a plant lab for experiments, smart tables, CSI Mysteries to solve, a soil lab and the signature feature, the OmniGlobe.
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![girl in front of weather device in a hedge maze]()
Amazing Secret Garden
This maze offers children engaging rewards along the way to the secret garden. Changeable panels make the maze either more or less challenging for different age groups, and questions at turning points speed children to their goal.
Learn more about the Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden
Daily Programming is designed to inspire young minds to explore a world of educational adventure!
Other Accolades
- Thea Award recipient for Outstanding Achievement as a Science/Discovery Garden.
- Certified as a Wildlife Habitat with the National Wildlife Federation.
- A certified Monarch Waystation
- A Texas Aquatic Science certified field site
The Dallas Arboretum’s Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden is a truly spectacular addition to this community—brilliantly conceived and beautifully executed. Kids of all ages will have an engaging and entertaining experience, all while learning more about the wonders of our planet.
– Boyd Matson, Host, National Geographic Weekend
I’m excited about the hands-on learning experience that the next generation of geologists and engineers will have in the Energy Learning Center. Challenging young minds is the way we will adapt to the future energy demands.
– Dr. Gerald Turner, President of Southern Methodist University
Sponsors
Start Your Adventure Here
With so many paths to take, visiting the Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden is one of the most intriguing ways in all of Dallas to spend a day outdoors with children.