GreenSchool Workshops

GreenSchool workshops begin indoors with an inquiry-based lesson and hands-on activities and are followed by an exploration of either the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, the Forest, or the Botanical Garden grounds. All workshops include activity sheets that enhance the hands-on learning, and teaching methods for these workshops are specifically adapted to different learning styles and developmental needs. For example, programs for younger grades may incorporate storytelling, movement, and sensory explorations, while programs for older grades use experiments, observation, and sketching activities.

Workshops are supplemented by pre- and post-visit activities, which can be accessed online by clicking here.

’Round and ’Round: The Life Cycle of a Plant
Where does the life of a plant begin? What role does each plant part play as a plant develops? These questions and more are answered as students explore the life cycle of plants, observe and compare different plants and plant parts, and plant seeds to take back to school for continued investigations.

A Forest in the City
Step out of the city streets and into one of the last remnants of the forest that once covered New York City. The Botanical Garden’s 50-acre Forest is an amazing ecosystem of plants and animals that changes with the seasons. Students observe trees at different stages in their life cycles, search for animal homes, and discover the role of decomposers in the forest food web.

Sorting Out Plants
Classification is one of the fundamental tools of science. Scientists constantly group and regroup living and non-living things to better understand their relationships to each other. Students step into the shoes of plant scientists as they observe and group plant parts, learn about dichotomous keys, and practice identifying plants.

Life in the Rain Forest
Why are rain forests so important? They are home to more than half the world’s plant and animal species, and many rain forest plants are used for food and medicine. Students explore the amazing rain forest exhibits in the Conservatory, learn about plant adaptations, and pot up a rain forest plant.

Plant Parts We Eat
We know we eat fruits—but what about stems, leaves, roots, and flowers? Each of these plant parts play a vital role in our food chain. Students learn the role of basic plant parts as they explore plant parts we eat, make a salad, and plant vegetable seeds to grow and observe back in the classroom.

Fall Harvest
As summer draws to a close we celebrate the fall harvest—the time ripe fruit is gathered to eat. Students find out what makes a fruit a fruit; compare pumpkins, cranberries, and apples; create a harvest snack; and explore the grounds to look for fruits and seeds that animals harvest.

Plants People Use
Although we know that we eat many plants, how else do we use them in our everyday lives? Many of the things we use, wear, and live in are made from plants. Students investigate plant-derived household objects, use plant parts to make a take-home craft, and explore the Conservatory to learn about plants used by people around the world.

Roots, Shoots, and Blooming Bulbs
Enjoy the rebirth of spring and explore one of the most popular kinds of springblooming plants—bulbs. Students investigate the life cycle and properties of these special plants, explore the grounds to find different kinds of flowering bulbs, and plant a paperwhite bulb to follow its life cycle back in the classroom.

Amazing Adaptations
Why are there so many different plants? Plants adapt to living in all conditions, from the wettest bog to the driest desert. Explore these adaptations, and take an up-close look at some unusual plants like Venus flytraps and plants with flowers that smell like rotting meat. Students pot up a plant to take home.

Numbers in Nature
Is Mother Nature a math genius? Series, patterns, and repetition are found everywhere in nature, and many of these patterns are based on mathematical relationships. Students explore math in a beautiful setting and investigate how plants and their parts can be used to extend their understanding of simple arithmetic, geometry, and number series.

Haiku in the Garden
Experience Japanese culture through haiku, a specialized form of Japanese poetry. Through exploration of the Garden’s exhibition of kiku—meticulously cultivated and trained chrysanthemums—and other diverse plants, students hone their observational and writing skills to create their own haiku. As an added touch, students create origami envelopes to hold their poems.

Survival of the Spiniest
How do plants live in an environment with very little water? Explore the Conservatory’s desert galleries to find out. Students discover the amazing ways desert plants have adapted to their harsh habitats as they observe and draw different kinds of desert plants and pot up a succulent.

Pollination Partners
Pollination is key to the transformation of flowers into seeds. Students dissect a flower to learn more about the process of pollination. They explore the relationship between flowers and their pollinators through a field investigation of pollinators in action.

Travels of a Botanist
What is a botanist and what does one do? Many of the Garden’s botanists—or plant scientists—travel all over the world to study plants. Students explore the Conservatory and become botanists for a day as they learn about herbaria and make an herbarium sheet, create their own plant press, and preserve a live specimen.

Photosynthesis: A Light Snack
How does a plant get its food? In this workshop, students learn how plants make their own food through the chemical process of photosynthesis, described as the most important chemical reaction on Earth. Through discussion, observation, and hands-on experiments, students gain understanding of photosynthesis and examine its significance to all life.

The Role of Plants in the Water Cycle
The water cycle is a prime example of the complex relationships among air, precipitation, and land. To illustrate the role plants play in this crucial cycle, students perform experiments and build mini-terraria to take back to the classroom.

Plants Up Close
How do leaves and stems look on the inside? In this workshop, students review the structure and role of the major plant parts as they are introduced to basic microscopy techniques. By assembling and viewing microscope slides, students compare and contrast the magnified images of stems, leaves, and seeds.

Create Your Own GreenSchool Workshop New!
Participate in a GreenSchool workshop that is specially designed to complement your class curriculum and take advantage of the Garden’s vast resources in science, horticulture and sustainability.

Suggested topics include: Introduction to Ethnobotany,Wetland Ecology, Plant Identification, Seasonal Changes in our Native Habitat, and Plant Conservation.