SCOUT PROGRAMS
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill offers a wide range of badge workshops for Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of all levels. From gardens to trails, there is so much to discover in our outdoor classroom. Whether you are a Brownie, Junior, or Webelo, your visit to New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill will be memorable, educational, and fun! All workshops are 90 minutes in length and are designed to meet or support badge requirements.
Commemorate your visit with a New England Botanic Garden fun patch. Available for purchase online or in person at the Garden Shop.
PRICING
The fee for Girl Scout and Boy Scout programs is $16 per child and includes materials and the cost of admission unless otherwise noted. One chaperone for every 5 children is admitted free of charge. Additional chaperones pay the group admission rate of $17.10. Please note, a minimum of 8 scouts is required to run a program.
A $25 non-refundable deposit is required at the time of booking to secure your preferred date and time.
RESERVATIONS
To schedule a group program, please fill out this form or email youtheducation@nebg.org, or call 508.869.6111 x132. We recommend you book your program at least one month in advance.
GIRL SCOUT PROGRAMS
Art and Nature
Join us as we explore the different ways the natural world inspires us to imagine and create while working on your Outdoor Art Maker badge (not included). Observe colorful flowers in the garden, listen to wildlife at the pond, practice painting a watercolor landscape, and explore the sights and sounds of the great outdoors.
Eco Heroes
Learn to become a nature hero while working on your Eco Friend badge(not included). Learn the leave no trace principles and how to protect plants and animals on your next outdoor adventure. Embark on a miniature hike and explore ways to reduce waste to help the plants and animals in our neighborhoods.
Fantastic Flowers
Explore our gardens and grounds and learn about the world of gardening while working towards your Flower Garden Journey award (not included). Visit different garden spaces, learn about insects that help plants grow, and pot up your own flower seeds to create a miniature windowsill garden to grow and care for at home.
Trail Detectives
Join us for a guided hike through our mile long loop trail while working on your Trail Adventure badge (not included). Play fun trail games, use different tools to get up close and personal with resident plant and animal species, and learn how to prepare for a day of fun-filled activities in the woods.
Art and Nature
Join us as we explore the different ways the natural world inspires us to imagine and create while working on your Outdoor Art Creator badge (not included). Create leaf and bark rubbings, have a nature dance party, illustrate flowers in the garden, and explore the sights and sounds of the great outdoors while collecting natural materials to create a trailside fairy house.
Eco Heroes
Learn how to become a nature hero while working on your Eco Friend badge (not included). Learn the leave no trace principles and how to protect plants and animals on your next outdoor adventure. Embark on a hike to search for animal homes, practice making observations and looking closely, and learn how to protect your favorite outdoor spaces
Garden Senses
Explore and investigate the gardens and trails while working on your Senses badge (not included). Search for different textures in nature, smell nectar rich flowers, listen to the calls of resident wildlife, and more on this sensory adventure.
Incredible Insects
Explore the incredible world of insects as you work on your Bugs badge (not included). Take to the trails and search for some of your favorite six-legged friends, learn to use simple tools to catch and release insects, learn about insects homes, and take-home materials to try an insect inspired craft.
*Not offered November through March
Plants and Paint
Learn the basics of watercolor painting while working on your Painting badge (not included). Use our gardens and grounds as inspiration as you paint an outdoor landscape, practice conveying a feeling or mood, try painting with natural materials, and begin a mural depicting your favorite Girl Scout adventure.
Trail Detectives
Join us for a guided hike through our mile-long loop trail while working on your Trail Adventure badge (not included). Play fun trail games, use different tools to get up close and personal with resident plant and animal species and learn how to prepare for a day of fun–filled activities in the woods.
Art in Nature
Join us as we explore the different ways the natural world inspires us to imagine and create while working on your Outdoor Art Explorer badge (not included). Explore animal adaptations, compose a nature symphony, create your own wearable nature impressions, and more as we embark on this artistic journey.
*Scouts are encouraged to bring a camera or smartphone to complete the full requirements for this badge.
Botanic Illustration
Learn the basics of illustration while working on your Drawing badge (not included). Draw a botanical still life, experiment with crosshatching and smudging, create a drawing from a bug’s-eye view, imagine your own botanically inspired cartoon character, and learn the basics of compiling your own art portfolio.
Flower Power
Get up close and personal with some of your favorite plants while working on your Flowers badge (not included). Dissect a flower and tour the gardens to search for different plant species and their pollinators. Get creative by making an upcycled flower press and practicing the art of floral arrangement.
*2 hours, $20 per scout
Gems and Jewelry
Get creative and make your own unique jewelry pieces while working on your Jeweler badge (not included). Become familiar with a jeweler’s tools, wrap a caged stone necklace, design your own unique totem using materials from nature, and make a bracelet to give to a friend or relative.
*2 hours, $20 per scout
Go Gardening!
Explore our gardens and conservatories and learn about garden design while working on your Gardener badge (not included). Explore the basics of garden design, learn how to pick the right plants for where you live, pot up your own seeds to start a container garden at home, and take home seeds to set up your own growing experiments.
Habitrek
Explore four different habitats and learn how living things meet their needs for survival while working on your Animal Habitats badge (not included). Embark on an adventure to find out what lives in our gardens and trails, build your own trailside animal shelter, and learn about endangered habitats by getting up close and personal with our favorite conservatory plants.
Trail Detectives
Join us for a guided hike through our mile long loop trail while working on your Trail Adventure badge (not included). Play fun trail games, start an adventure journal, practice trail safety, and learn how to prepare for a day of fun-filled activities in the woods.
Art in Nature
Join us as we explore the different ways the natural world inspires us to imagine and create while working on your Outdoor Art Apprentice badge (not included). Write a nature haiku, learn nature photography tips and tricks to practice capturing textures and patterns in the natural world, and try an art project powered by the sun or wind.
*Scouts are required to bring a camera or smartphone to complete the requirements for this badge.
Eco Heroes
Learn how to become a nature hero while working on your Eco Trekker badge (not included). Learn the leave no trace principles and how to protect plants and animals on your next outdoor adventure. Hike our trails, learn about invasive species, and explore native species that need a helping hand.
Terrific Trees
Become an arborist and learn about the amazing science of trees while working on your Trees badge (not included).Tour our heirloom apple orchard, learn how to identify trees, try a tree craft, and explore the relationships between trees, people, and animals.
BOY SCOUT PROGRAMS
Ready, Set, Grow!
Explore our cultivated gardens and learn the basic skills a gardener needs while working on the requirements of this elective adventure. Learn where the food we eat comes from and pot up your own edible container crop to grow and care for at home.
My Tiger Jungle
Come explore the gardens and grounds at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill and discover the sights and sounds of the great outdoors while working on the requirements of this core adventure. Join us on a one foot hike, identify native bird species, and learn the basics of plant care by potting up a seed to grow and care for at home.
Grow Something
Tour the grounds and trails at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill to complete the requirements of this elective adventure. Learn about the resident plants and explore the basics of plant care by potting up your own seeds to grow and care for at home.
Into the Woods
Explore the trails at New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill to learn the basics of tree identification. Work on the requirements of this elective adventure as we identify the ways humans and animals rely on trees and investigate tree parts to uncover the stories they tell. Learn to identify the difference between native species and pot up your own plant to care for at home.
CANCELATION POLICY
Please contact youtheducation@nebg.org or call 508.869.6111 x124, as soon as possible if you would like to postpone, reschedule, or cancel your program. A full refund (less the $25 non-refundable deposit) will be made if the cancelation is requested at least two weeks before the date of the program. Cancelations less than two weeks before the program date will forfeit the program fee (exceptions will be made if the cancelation is mutually agreed upon and due to severe weather).
QUESTIONS?
Please contact the Manager of Youth Education at youtheducation@nebg.org.