For Children
General Information
The Hortus is great for children. In the Chinese garden you can take a secret path behind the waterfall, the rock garden is made for young mountain goats, and you can look for your birth tree in the Celtic garden. Everything there is to know about bees can be found in the Apiary with its new “green” roof. And of course there are play areas like the mini-slide in the English garden, the sandpit in the Floriade garden, and the lawn by the elfin theatre in the Celtic garden.
Activities for children in the Hortus
We have lovely trail maps to help you uncover the hidden secrets of the Chinese and Celtic gardens. With the “doctor’s” trail map you can learn that herbs are much more than just beautiful plants. There are regular scavenger hunts for other cool things in nature to be found in the gardens. The scavenger hunts are free, ask at Reception. And download the free Hortus Chat app so you can talk with the trees!
You can walk along the back-pack route from April until October for a small cost.
We can also organise children’s parties with a particular theme. And schools are more than welcome to visit us for entertaining and educational lessons in the gardens. Look for the current events planned in the Events Calendar.
Guided tours or children’s activities
- Please reserve any children’s activity at least two weeks ahead
- Standard activities or guided tours take about 1.5 hours
- Guided tours are in Dutch or English
- Use the online question form Request Children Party or
- Contact educatie@hortusharen.nl for more information
Collaborations with other organisations
Our education workgroup collaborates with our neighbours, “the Biotoop”, to organise butterfly and plant excursions. In addition, the Royal Dutch Association for Natural History Koninklijke Nederlandse Natuurhistorische Vereniging (KNNV) organises regular investigations in the Autumn into the many types of mushroom to be found in the Hortus. Last year the KNNV discovered that twelve rare ‘Hygrocybe’ Waxcap mushrooms appear in the Hortus!
Guided tour for children in the Hortus botanicus Haren (video) – OOG TV (Dutch)
