For those of us who live in the southern California desert, summer temperatures tend to limit our options for outdoor play time and exploration. One way to get around this is to escape to cooler areas like the mountains or the beach. We enjoyed a great day trip to the Hamilton Children’s Garden at the San Diego Botanic Gardens (formerly Quail Bontanic Gardens) in Encinitas, CA. This weekend’s event was their annual Insect Fair and we went especially for that event.
We learned about a variety of native and exotic insects, reptiles, and birds. Many live critters were on hand to get visitors up close to the many creatures we share our planet with everyday. All of these first encounters started near the wonderful Undersea Succulent Garden which is filled with beautiful tiled sculptures, lava stone, huge shells, and marine glass planted planted among succulents that looked very much like ocean coral, sea stars and other marine critters.
Nearby, young visitors and their parents played in nature with some water play, bubbles, plant creatures, garden play houses, dino dig, a miniature railroad, and crafts within the Seeds of Wonder garden, especially created for toddlers and preschoolers. While on the other side of the park, the laughter and energy of children climbing up and under a huge tree house, splashing in a stream, creating music in a musical garden, spelling and smelling in an alphabet garden, herb and salad gardens, exploring a grass maze, and boulder jumping in the "rock hopping" garden (you must hop from boulder to boulder, no touching the ground!), led the day for families in the equally fantastic Hamilton Children’s Garden.
What an amazing place! You will likely find something for the entire family to experience between the amazing gardens, integrated sculptures, children’s play areas and specialty gardens, trails and lookouts. We found a lot of hidden whimsy throughout the day in the form of critters, “secret” hideaways and paths, artful, enchanting gardens and inspiring displays.
Be sure to visit their site for more information about the Seeds of Wonder garden of delights for the little ones and the huge tree house to be explored and climbed on in the Hamilton Garden! Some of their annual events include the Chocolate Festival, Fairy Festival, Garden of Lights, Lady Bug Day, Orchid Festival and much more! Click San Diego Botanic Garden
If you’d like to see more pictures from our day at the San Diego Botanic Garden check out our Facebook album.
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