About Families Online

Feature Articles for August, 2003

The Children’s Garden at Hershey Gardens–For Kids of All Ages
by Mari Conners

One visit to the brand new Children’s Garden at Hershey Gardens, located at 170 Hotel Road, Hershey, reinforces the notion that one can enjoy nature and learning in an environment that speaks to the child in all of us.

The Children’s Garden is the newest addition of the Hershey Gardens. It covers an entire acre and a half, and is one of only thirteen children’s gardens in the entire country. Upon entering you cannot help but sense the magic and wonder present in the many hands-on displays, which are both educational and entertaining.

During my recent outing at the Children’s Garden at Hershey Gardens, Crystal Huff, public programs coordinator and Children’s Garden project director, indicated that lots of children do not realize that each day their lives are touched by nature and gardening. “Many children do not realize that their breakfast cereal has its origin from a farm. The Children’s Garden at Hershey Gardens is designed to help children–and adults– understand the importance of gardening and the impact that farming has on everyone’s life. Children will discover that math and science and music are part of the big adventure in the Children’s Garden,” she said.

The idea to construct a Children’s Garden in Hershey Gardens was first conceived in 1999. The fund-raising, however, did not begin until September of 2001 with the official ground-breaking ceremony taking place in November. The 1.5 million dollars that took the plan from paper to reality was accomplished in April, 2002–less than two years after it officially began. Actual construction commenced only last summer, and, though basic seeding was completed several weeks ago, new seeds continue to be planted even today.

There are thirty themed gardens within the Children’s Garden at Hershey Gardens and each theme area has from one to four–or more–interactive displays. These displays are wonderful tools that entertain children while teaching them about nature, science, math, music and much more. Studies indicate that hands-on activities are one of the most effective ways in which children retain what they have learned. It is anticipated that youngsters visiting the gardens will reap the benefits from an educational standpoint, as well as gleaning a keen respect for the richness provided by the Pennsylvania farming community. The Children’s Garden is home to more than 2,000 plants, including 50 different trees and 643 different shrubs.
The Butterfly House debuted in Hershey in 1998. Naturally, when the decision to construct a children’s garden was made, the logical area was predefined by the existing butterfly house, since most kids visiting the Hershey Gardens expressed a keen interest in it.

The house is home to 20 different varieties of North American butterflies, and there are nearly 300 butterflies currently residing in it. Typically butterflies have a life-span of two weeks. Incubation for hatching eggs is three-to-five days in warm weather and close to a week in cooler weather. The Monarch Butterfly migrates to Mexico in the winter and make their way northeast as temperatures climb during spring.
The design of the Hershey Children’s Garden was a collaboration of Jane

Taylor and Deb Kinney, designers of the award-winning Michigan State University 4-H Children’s Garden. Acting on the input and ideas of the Hershey Garden staffers, the duo has made the Children’s Garden of Hershey unique. Much of the design has the overall theme of the “Sweetest Place on Earth” woven throughout the vegetation, sculptures, interactive displays and names. Visitors to Hershey Gardens will certainly find the Children’s Garden to be both delightful and inspiring.

Susan Klein, public relations coordinator for Hershey Gardens, indicated that donations to the Gardens are always appreciated since Hershey Gardens is a non-profit education service of the M.S. Hershey Foundation.