Indoor Children’s Garden

a small fountain in the middle with building structures and green trees surrounding it
District
Conservatory District
Style
Imaginative, Multi-Sensory, Playful
Best Seasons to Visit
Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn

Lead your kids to discovery at our Indoor Children’s Garden, a lush, whimsical space where they can shake out their sillies in a sensory-friendly atmosphere. Let them get lost in a jungle of draping vines and secret stairways. Watch them splash with our one-of-a-kind fountains featuring spitting fish and drooling dragons. Rest easy and listen for the bell as you take a breather in this welcoming, imaginative realm where everyone finds a reason to grin.

About This Garden

Unplug from the screens and engage your kids in the adventure of experiential learning. Here in this 4,000-square-foot space specially designed for our pint-sized playmates, children can stretch out and explore the elements of nature at their own pace. Rosemary, scented geranium, oregano, and other fragrant herbs line the ramp, piquing their senses as they bounce along to the rhythms of cascading waterfalls and child-sized fountains featuring a menagerie of creatures. A bamboo maze and a dripping cave provide an element of discovery and surprise. Hidden bugs wait to be spotted in the architecture, set to the backdrop of colorful mosaic tiles. Many of our guests have been bringing their children here for years, and adults who came here when they were young still fondly recall how much fun it was to explore this wonderland. After all, what better place to grow up than in a garden?

Stroll Through The Seasons

Purple hydrangeas sit in front of red and white amaryllis plants in lifted planters amid a larger stone pyramid structure
A young child is seen through a curtain of water among hanging green vines
A stone dragon sculpture with an open red mouth and water feature sits in a circular room below green plants
A stone eagle sculpture shoots water in a stream out of its mouth, surrounded by green plants under a glass conservatory
Sun shines through a tan stone arch covered in green vines above a small fountain
A small child stands on one foot as they reach their hand on to a stone water fountain
Tall green palms stand among shorter green and red plants along a stone path in a glass conservatory
A stone water feature with a decorative sculpture squirts short arches of water along a canal
Dark purple climb a whimsical pyramid structure among a collection of planted plants
A whimsical display of plants along a pyramid structure behind a row of red poinsettas

A Bit of History

From the late 1980s until 2007, our Indoor Children’s Garden has taken different design forms, always with the goal of delighting our younger guests with thoughtful design and captivating visuals. Our teams traveled the country learning about what kids liked, speaking with them directly while they visited children’s museums, gardens, and zoos. In 2007, as a part of our restoration of the East Conservatory, we debuted the new Indoor Children’s Garden, honoring founder Pierre S. du Pont's (1870-1940) dream of welcoming children into a stimulating realm showcasing plants and water features. 

Our Indoor Children’s Garden is rooted in a concept developed in Europe during the mid-1800s. Initially, most children’s gardens were seen as utilitarian spaces for learning and producing food, and by 1905, there were more than 100,000 such gardens in Europe.  During the rise of industrialization in the United States at the turn of the century, public and private gardens were, in a word, blossoming. 

Today, most children’s gardens are seen as places for learning and discovery, teaching youngsters the benefits of nutrition, the natural world, and the importance of biodiversity and preservation. Children are encouraged to engage using all the senses, building an early appreciation for beauty, texture, form, and color. We are happy to provide such a space at Longwood, where the importance of horticulture and beauty can start early in the lives of our youngest guests.

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