Geo-caching: Fun Family Adventure

The Junior Gardener's Club will host "Geo-caching: Searching for Hidden Treasure" on Saturday July 9th at 10 a.m. in the Children's Garden.

Learn about coordinates and gps units in this fun treasure hunt program. Caches will be scattered around the garden for Club members to find. We will begin our program with an introduction to geo-caching and using gps...then we will break into groups to use what we have learned and search for caches!

GPS units will be available but if you have one of your own, feel free to bring it.

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.

For more information about geo-caching, visit http://www.geocaching.com/

Forest Science Wonders on June 11th

On Saturday, June 11th, the Junior Gardener's Club will partner with the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI) to present a fun learning program: Forest Science Wonders.

We will be exploring in The Oregon Garden's Rediscovery Forest - What does a tree ring tell us? Do all trees grow the same? Come discover with the Oregon Forest Resources Institute

all the wonders of trees. Learn how to distinguish our common trees of Oregon. Use scientific tools to take a look inside a tree's life cycle and discover how people can influence the diversity and habitat of a forest.

Check out these sites for more forest and tree activities:

http://www.oregonforests.org/Education/K-12.html

http://www.safnet.org/education/forestryfun.cfm

For more information about OFRI, visit: http://www.oregonforests.org/

Meet in the Children's Garden at 10 a.m. We will then move to the Rediscovery Forest. Program will take approximately 1 hour.

Summer Programs at The Oregon Garden

The Oregon Garden is proud to announce the addition of six Junior Gardener's Club programs this summer. Programs will occur on consecutive Tuesdays, each beginning at 10 a.m. in the Children's Garden and lasting one hour.

July 12^th – Fiber Arts with Celia Stapleton of Silverton’s The Purl District

Finger knitting, dyeing wools naturally and exploring creative fiber arts are on the agenda for this program.

July 19^th – Zumba for Kids with Silverton Fitness instructors

Get moving and shaking with a fun session of Zumba. Dance and have fun in the Children’s Garden while learning some new dance moves.

July 26^th – Fairy Garden Party

Grab your wings and float into the Children’s Garden for a Fairy Garden Party! Listen to fairy lore under the bower, decorate your own wand, and create a fairy garden to take home.

August 2^nd – Clean Water Explorers

Exploring the water of the A-Mazing Water Garden, you will learn how to test for organisms in the water and take a close up look at what might be swimming in the water.

August 9^th – Zumba for Kids with Silverton Fitness instructors

Zumba returns to the Children’s Garden! Dancing and keeping healthy at the same time – great fun for kids.

August 16^th – Teddy Bear Picnic with Puppet Show

Invite your best Teddy Bear friend to this festival of fun, including a Teddy Bear parade, light snacks, and a return of Penny Puppet Productions presenting “Ted E. Bear’s Picnic”

All programs begin at 10 a.m. in the Children’s Garden. Junior Gardener’s Club members and Oregon Garden members receive free admission. Drop in rate for non-members is $5 plus applicable admission.

May 14th - How to Meet a Dog

The Willamette Humane Society will be presenting the "How to Meet a Dog" program at our next Junior Gardener's Club meeting on Saturday May 14th.

WHS’s humane education programs play a critical role in promoting the welfare of animals in our community. Their education programs encourage children and adults to develop and express attitudes of compassion, kindness, and respect for all living things.

Kids participating in the program will learn how to meet a dog and responsible pet care. Oregon Garden volunteer Jan Cooperman, who socializes dogs for the Guide Dogs for the Blind organization, will also be at the program, teaching about the Guide Dog program and will bring a couple of working dogs.

Join us Saturday May 14th at 10 a.m. in the Children's Garden!

Where Is Lilly the Catapilly? Puppet Show at The Oregon Garden

Everyone loves little Lilly the caterpillar, she is friends with everyone but one spring day when she was supposed to Go to a tea party, the loveable Lilly doesn’t show up. That’s when her friends go to look for her. Enjoy this musical Mystery and find out just what has happened to Lilly.

Join us on Saturday April 9th as the Junior Gardener's Club has a rockin' good time with the "Where is Lilly the Catapillly?" puppet show, presented by Penny Puppet Productions. Show begins at 10 a.m. in the OSU Room of the Pavilion. Check in at the Visitor Center.

About Penny:

Penny Walter has her Masters in Early Childhood Education. Her Masters Thesis was on “Teaching with Puppets." She taught in the Portland area schools before deciding to follow her dream and became a full time puppeteer and storyteller. From 2002-2006 she was the Resident Puppeteer at the Portland Children’s Museum. She has ongoing relationships with the Portland Public School district and head start programs as well as area libraries and is an Artist in Health Care at Emanual Children’s Hospital. Penny’s Puppet shows, utilize audience participation, and instill the love of music, language, and stimulate the imagination. They naturally support emotional development, improve listening skills, and develop awareness and appreciation of the similarities of all people (and puppets). She teaches Puppetry classes & workshops for teachers, children, families, and other professional groups, in addition to performing at festivals, libraries, schools and Private events.

Visit Penny's website here:http://www.pennypuppets.com/

For more fun learning about caterpillars and their mysterious ways, visit these sites:

http://www.kidsbutterfly.org/life-cycle

And if you love the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, visit author Eric Carle's website here:

http://www.eric-carle.com/ You'll find games, coloring pages and more!

Kids learn about Greenhouses on March 12th

This Saturday, March 12th, the Junior Gardener's Club will learn all about greenhouses.

Horticulture Staff from the Oregon Garden will teach attendees about how plants grow in greenhouses and why greenhouses are important. We will go over the growing cycle - how plants start out as seeds and change into larger, leafy plants! We will tour the Tropical House at The Oregon Garden and will plant a mini-greenhouse of their own to take home!

Don't miss the fun!!!

Saturday March 12th

10 a.m., Education Center

$5 per child (non-member); Free for Members

Tropical House at The Oregon Garden

Additional activities you can do at home:

http://www.education.com/activity/article/Soda_Bottle_Greenhouse/

http://www.ehow.com/list_6319286_science-nature-activities-kids.html

http://www.greenwing.org/newgreenwing/activities/Copy%20of%20plant_grow/seed_grow.htm

Books on how seeds grow:

http://www.amazon.com/Seed-Grows-Lets-Read-Find-Out-Science/dp/0064451070/ref=pd_sim_b_2

Vote for The Oregon Garden

Hey Junior Gardener's Club members, we need you to help The Oregon Garden win a $10,000 grant from Rain Bird.

The project with the most votes by March 22, 2011 will win the grant for the most Intelligent Use of Water. Our grant proposal is for funding for the Wetlands at The Oregon Garden.

The wetlands at The Oregon Garden represent a unique partnership between The Garden and the nearby city of Silverton to recycle treated wastewater from the community. Treated water is piped to The Garden where it charges the wetland area and provides The Garden's irrigation water. These man-made wetlands also help replace naturally occurring wetlands that have been lost to recent development. Here at The Oregon Garden we have created almost 25 acres of new wetland area.

The most prominent wetland feature in The Garden itself is the 4 acre site consisting of 15 linked ponds. These ponds are flooded with treated wastewater from Silverton. After the wastewater goes through secondary treatment, it is pumped through 16" pipe to The Garden. Depending on the time of day and irrigation needs, between 100 and 400 gallons of water are pumped per minute.

Not only does this innovative water feature provide irrigation for The Garden and wetland mitigation for the city, it also offers educational experiences for more than 100,000 annual visitors to The Oregon Garden. Each year 6,000 5^th Grade students learn about “Amazing Aqua Life” with the wetlands as their living classroom.

Help us win this grant by voting every day! You can vote once per day per computer.

How to Vote:

1. Go to http://www.iuowawards.com/Default.aspx

2. Click on "find and vote on the project you want funded"

3. Put "Silverton" in the city/state search field

4. Click on the Thumbs Up symbol for the "Wetlands Treated Waste Water" project to cast your vote.

5. Come back every day and vote!

We'll let you know if we win the grant...Thank you for your help!