Lead your own self-guided program while visiting the Missouri Botanical Garden using our handy activity satchels. Each knapsack contains the materials necessary to accommodate age appropriate explorations for up to 10 students per satchel. Multiple knapsacks can be requested and will be waiting at the entry gate when you arrive. Knapsacks can be returned as you depart the Missouri Botanical Garden. Please be aware that supplies are limited, and reservations must be made before your visit.

Cost: $5 per knapsack (fee is waived for St. Louis City and County schools as part of the Zoo Museum District)

Current offerings include:

• In the Garden
  Grades PreK–K; Available Year-round
  Help your students discover how shapes and colors are essential to how the various areas here at the Missouri Botanical Garden are designed. Horticulturists carefully blend colors of plants and use design patterns to make those areas “pop”! With this knapsack, you’ll take your students on a color and shape hunt all while seeing how beautifully designed gardens are. 
• Build a Plant
  Grades K–2; Available Year-round
  This knapsack guides you through discovering the various parts of a plant as you explore the Missouri Botanical Garden.
• How Does Your Garden Grow
  Grades 3–5; Available Year-round
  Plants require different conditions to grow and thrive. Use this knapsack to explore the plant labels in the Kemper Center for Home Gardening to better understand what each plant needs and think through how they may design their own dream garden.

Knapsacks will be available for pickup at the entry gate when you arrive and may be returned there when you leave. Please be aware that supplies are limited, and reservations must be made before your visit.

Register for a Self-guided Visit and reserve MBG Nature Knapsacks

 

The Doris I. Schnuck Children's Garden offers a wide array of hands-on exploration and play-centered learning opportunities! Your students can explore a Missouri wetland with Lewis and Clark, explore a cave and pilot a steamboat with Mark Twain, pretend to keep shop in a settlement town with Daniel Boone, or explore the parts of plants and their role in an ecosystem with Henry Shaw!

Learn more about the Children's Garden

Teachers planning to visit the Children's Garden should keep in mind the following guidelines:

• Admission fees are due on the day of your visit. Please note that there are no scholarships available to cover Children's Garden admission fees at this time. Admission cost is $5 per student.


• Timed Exploration Session tickets are required to enter Children's Garden. Tickets to enter the Children’s Garden must be purchased in-person at the Childrens Garden Ticket Fort or at the Jack C. Taylor Visitor Center on the same-day of entry. Exploration Session tickets are not available online or for advance purchase.


• Timed Entry. 90-minute Exploration Sessions each day starting at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m. At the end of each session, the Children’s Garden will be cleared for cleaning.


• To ensure the safety of all Children's Garden visitors, students should be under the supervision of adult chaperones at all times. Teachers to assign students to specific adults before entering the play area. 1 adult chaperone per 5 students is required in the Children's Garden.


• Capacity is limited. To ensure social distancing, only a limited number of visitors will be able to enter the Children’s Garden during each 90-minute session.

Learn more about the Children's Garden

 

Your students can bring the Garden home (or back to your classroom)! Pot-a-Plant sessions run fifteen minutes and include a short topical discussion of the type of plant and method of propagation, a guided planting session, and instructions for care. Each student's plant will be packaged in a labeled biodegradable bag and loaded into a cardboard tray for easy transport.

Pot-a-Plant sessions make a great addition to programming of your own design. Current options for planting include:

Species	Method	Content Discussed
Basil	Seeds	Plants as Food
Succulents	Plugs	Plant Adaptations (recommended for older students)
Philodendron	Cuttings	Plant Anatomy (recommended for older students)

Fees for Pot-a-Plant sessions run $60. Each session can accommodate up to 30 students. Large groups may schedule multiple sessions during the same visit. Sessions are booked on a first-come, first-served basis, so please book early to ensure the PlantLab is available on the day of your visit.