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The Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens welcomes the community to enjoy a newly constructed indoor Playspace for kids and families. The Playspace, presented by Wegmans, is an interactive exhibit that encourages children and their caretakers to explore, learn, and discover the important connections between people, plants, and pollinators. Features in the Playspace include interactive and educational signage, imaginative play stations, hands-on activities, busy boards, and more. The exhibit will be open to the public daily from 10:00am to 4:00pm beginning on Wednesday, March 26 and is included with regular admission to the Botanical Gardens.
The Playspace, presented by Wegmans, is filled with opportunities for fun and learning for kids and their caretakers. The former children's garden has completely transformed into an interactive exhibit that encourages play, movement, and learning for young minds to grow and explore. Each play station within the exhibit is designed to teach kids about bees and pollinators from around the world through hands-on fun. With stations like ‘Flip and Find,’ ‘Count the Critters,’ and more, children and families will have the opportunity to become pollinators by moving oversized pollen between flowers, design and build their own blooms with fun shapes, and stack honeycomb blocks while learning how bees live, pollinate and make honey. A ‘Honey Hut’ market also provides a space for imaginative play where children can pretend to sell bee and honey products that shows the impact of pollinators in peoples’ daily lives. Among many more play stations and features, the Playspace also offers seating and tables for themed activities as well as space for stroller and wagon parking.
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The new Playspace offers the community a dedicated space for kids to play, move, and learn when they come to visit the Botanical Gardens. The Botanical Gardens team explains that through play, kids build critical thinking, creativity, and social skills while developing a deeper understanding of the world around them. Parents and caretakers can look forward to spending a day at the Botanical Gardens with the added fun of the Playspace among the additional greenhouses filled with plant collections from around the world.
This exhibit is just one of many exciting transformations on the horizon for the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens this year. As part of their Expansion and Renovation Project, several more updates and changes are planned for the Botanical Gardens’ conservatory and campus. The pollinator-themed Playspace comes after the recent announcement of the Butterfly Experience that will open this summer. The Playspace, Honeybee Observation Station, and the Butterfly Experience will offer visitors the chance to learn about the connections between plants, people, and pollinators as part of a larger thematic initiative for enhancing the visitor experience.
"This new indoor Playspace creates more fun at our Botanical Gardens and will provide a place for children to play, learn, and connect with the importance of pollinators in our everyday lives. This is another step toward our exciting expansion and renovation project and brings us closer to fulfilling our mission to deepen the connection between people and plants through beautiful gardens and extraordinary experiences," said President and CEO, Erin Grajek.
Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz adds, “Stimulating young learners creates a lifelong interest in learning, enriching lives, and instilling curiosity that can lead anywhere. This interactive Playspace will teach children all about plants, pollinators, nature, and our place in it. It is more important today than ever to have an appreciation and understanding of the natural world around us, how we interact with it and how we can protect it, in order to preserve this natural beauty for the future.”
The Playspace was made possible by the generous support from New York State Assemblyman Pat Burke and Wegmans. The exhibit was built in collaboration with a local exhibition company, Hadley Exhibits.
The Playspace will be open daily from 10:00am to 4:00pm beginning Wednesday, March 26 and is included with admission. Visit www.buffalogardens.com to purchase tickets and explore upcoming exhibits, events and shows. Members of Botanical Gardens receive free admission year-round but must have a ticket.