Home-grown fun made easy

Mounts Botanical Garden offers garden-to-go kits

Mounts Botanical Gardens offers a new pandemic pick-me-up: garden-togo kits for families to learn some science while having fun with bug-shaped snacks, succulents and plenty of arts and crafts ideas.

Each kit comes with yarn, a succulent plant, soil, coffee filters and sun-print papers. They cost $25 for non-members and $20 for members and are available for sale at the garden gift shop, located at 531 North Military Trail in West Palm Beach, or order by phone at 561-233-1757.

“One of the reasons I wanted to do this was because there are a lot of parents at home right now,” said Diane Robaina, youth programs manager and kit designer for Mounts. “I thought it might fit better for what’s going on.”

Though the bags don’t include every item necessary for the craft list, Robaina said the pieces left out are things most people have at home, like pine cones, pebbles and empty bottles. This way, children can learn to reuse materials and minimize waste while having fun.

There are 12 design ideas for the bags: a bird feeder, a bee house, garden markers, a rain gauge, a bee bath, an indoor potato garden, a kitchen scrap garden, garden themed snacks, sun prints, leaf prints, a plant holder and coffee filter art.

Mounts wants customers to post pictures of themselves playing with the garden kits to social media so they know people are enjoying them and having quality educational time during the pandemic.

“These activities, they’re not just for kids,” Robaina said. “They’re meant to be projects that are done by families together.”

DAILYN ROBAINA/SUN SENTINEL Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach is selling garden-to-go kits for athome activities. One kit is a guide for starting a kitchen scrap garden.