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School Programs

The best tree of all was the ucklyptess (sic). I never knew how important it was. If it didn’t exist, people wouldn’t be using hall drops and more to feel better.
~ 3rd grader, PS 22Q

PS 21Q students created this outdoor mural, Children and Food from Around the World (detail), at QBG.

QBG’s school workshops are based on science curriculum, satisfying National and New York State Science Standards and meeting New York City Performance Standards, with hands-on activities and experiences that enhance the classroom lesson.

Many of QBG’s education programs can be adapted to meet the needs of special education classes as well. We will work with you to support the particular academic goals of your class.

Workshops fill up quickly for October, April, May, and June. December and February are the least requested months but are still wonderful months to visit QBG. Early registration is recommended. See our current brochure for fees and registration information.

Instructors are also available on a limited basis to present workshops at your school. Please call the Education Department at 718.886.3800 ext. 230 for program selection, dates, and fees.

Too far away to visit QBG? Some workshops are also available as Video Teleconferencing (VTC) programs.

Workshops	Grades	Offered
Plants and Me
Plants We Eat!	Pre-K–5	All Year
Make Scents of Plants	Pre-K–5	All Year
Trees and Me	Pre-K–5	All Year
City Plants	3–5	All Year
Biomes	3–5	All Year
Propagation Activity	Pre-K–5	All Year
Plants and Animals
Plants and Animals	Pre-K–K	All Year
Honeybees	Pre-K–K	All Year
Good Guys and Bad Guys	Pre-K–K	All Year
Plant Communities	Pre-K–K	All Year
Propagation Activity	Pre-K–K	All Year
Interdependence
Plants and Animals	3–5	All Year
Katydids for Kids	3–5	All Year
Honeybees	3–5	All Year
As the Worm Turns	3–5	All Year
Special Programming
Color Me Autumn	Pre-K–5	Late Sept., Oct., early Nov.
Dr. George Washington Carver	Pre-K–5	All Year
Growing Together	3–5	All Year
Plants in the Lives of the First Americans	3–5	Sept., early Oct., Mar., Apr., May
New! Round & Round It Goes	6–8	All Year

Plants We Eat!
Do you eat your fruits and vegetables? Explore plant parts, identify their functions, and discover which of these parts we eat. Includes a seed planting to take home and an optional “root vue” kit for the classroom.

Make Scents of Plants
Flowers are not the only part of the plant that can have a beautiful fragrance. Discover plants that carry a scent in their roots, stems, leaves, or fruit and how people have used them. Includes a take-home potpourri.

Trees and Me
Trees provide us with wood, food, and paper and help our environment in many ways. Explore the life cycle of trees. What do they need to grow? Determine the role trees play in our daily lives. Plant a tree seed to take home and watch grow.

Plants and Animals
Plants and animals need each other in many ways. Investigate the food chain and food web and the ways that living things rely on each other in order to survive in the garden community. Includes a seed planting to take home.

Honeybees
Explore the life cycle of honeybees while discovering how they help flowers in our garden grow. Visit the working hives in QBG’s Bee Garden and see our industrious bees, then have a taste of honey.

Good Guys and Bad Guys/Katydids for Kids
Are all bugs insects? What makes an insect an insect? Discuss the interdependency of insects and plants, explore how their characteristics enable them to survive, and discover garden critters that are beneficial and harmful to our garden community. Includes a hands-on activity.

City Plants
Wild plants, what some people call weeds, have ecological importance. Explore QBG and see how our meadows and swales of wild plants and flowers help prevent flooding and erosion while nurturing the soil and providing habitat. Collect and press specimens to take home. Learn to identify wild plants and flowers in your own schoolyard or backyard using field identification techniques, and create a herbarium for further scientific observation.

As the Worm Turns
Are worms good or bad? Learn the importance of worms to our gardens and how to use them to recycle kitchen waste. Collect materials and set up a portable worm bin to take back to the classroom for observation. Includes an activity guidebook and a certificate to order live worms for your bin.

Biomes and Plant Communities
Explore plants and the ecology of biomes around the world. Discover how plants and their parts have adapted in order to survive in the desert, tropical rainforest, and wetland. Students create a model environment for further study. Please select one theme per workshop.

Color Me Autumn (Available in autumn months only)
As we all begin to adapt to the chill in the air, we see there are many changes occurring in our garden environment as well. Observe how plants and animals are preparing for winter and discover how the life cycle of a plant ties into seasonal patterns and changes. Includes a leaf activity.

Dr. George Washington Carver
Called the “Wizard of Tuskegee,” Dr. George Washington Carver made significant contributions to the field of botany. Learn how plants played a very important role in his early life and in his later scientific achievements. Plant a peanut to take home and watch grow.

Growing Together
Plants, like people, come from many different regions and countries throughout the world. In this unique historical and cultural offering, students embark on a world journey, discovering the origins of the plants we eat every day. Students end their trip by tasting different fruits and planting of a “little world in a pot.”

Plants in the Lives of the First Americans
Discover the importance of plants as they relate to history. Identify needs shared by all people and how the first Americans used plants to fulfill those needs. Go on a food foraging tour and make a tasty “wild” salad.

Round & Round It Goes
Bring your students on a journey of discovery focusing on the vital importance of water! Learn how natural and man-made environments offer ecological and economic services that clean water, and slow down and absorb storm water. This three-part program provides an overview of New York City’s watershed, reviews the scientific method, and offers an experiment for set up in your classroom. Students learn about the water cycle, the interdependency of living things in the non-living environment, and the consequences of human activity.