Goals in Gardens Program Launches at Scott Arboretum
On Saturday, July 24, children and families of Chester Upland Youth Soccer spent three hours on the gorgeous Swarthmore College campus enjoying a garden tour, a nature craft, a pizza picnic and high-energy soccer in a picturesque setting.
This special event marked the launch of a new Goals in Gardens initiative intended to present opportunities for the children of CUYS to visit inspiring destinations and immerse themselves in the beauty of nature.
Highlights of the Scott Arboretum tour included vegetable plants, prehistoric trees, colorful flowers and busy pollinators. Each child in attendance received a magnifying glass to more closely examine textures and other details. Favorite sites included the celosia plant that resembled a hot pink brain, the very unique apple tree and the heart-shaped climber on a college building wall.
“It was a pleasure to take the children and their families on a short tour through our beautiful grounds and to engage them in a craft that exposed them to creative ways of thinking about nature," said Mandie Curtis Banks, who serves as the Youth, Family, and Diversity Programs Coordinator for the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College. "Our Terry Shane Teaching Garden, Dean Bond Rose Garden, Metasequoia Allée, Amphitheater, and Magill Walk are consistent crowd pleasers for young and old, and this group was no exception. We hope that the Chester Upland Youth Soccer families will return often to visit those destinations and also explore other areas of our grounds since our gardens are free and open to the public from dawn to dusk, 365 days a year.”
The Scott Arboretum is excited to offer in-person youth and family programming in its beautiful gardens starting this September. The classes will be free and open to all who register https://www.scottarboretum.org “Mandie’s Nature Nook” is a weekly class offered on Thursday mornings at 10 am for babies through PreK aged children and their caregivers. Get ready to dig into nature with mornings full of stories, singing, dancing, and creating at Mandie’s Nature Nook. Also available for the youngest nature explorers, the “Garden Grooving” story yoga class will be offered on select Saturday mornings. Nature-based family workshops and events will also be joining Scott Arboretum’s schedule of programming starting in the fall. All classes/events will be held outdoors as long as the weather permits.
A complete fall schedule will be coming soon at https://www.scottarboretum.org.
To get in touch directly with Mandie, please contact her at mbanks1@swarthmore.edu or at 610-328-7339.
Chester Upland Youth Soccer intends to continue providing enriching experiences on and off the soccer pitch for its participants. To make destination suggestions and to help support any element of CUYS programming, please visit https://cuys.org/donate
