Activity Guides
Our team at Zilker Botanical Garden has created a series of activity guides for you and your family to do at home. All activities are downloadable, require only a few household materials, and are easily done at home. To view an activity guide, click on the name of the activity that you would like to try.
Plants for Pollinators: Temporary Educational Exhibit
Objective: Learn about the importance of bees, moths, and hummingbirds in a garden and which plants attract them.
Soil Activity Guide
Objective: Clay, silt & sand…determining soil texture in your hand!
Tōrō Lantern Scavenger Hunt
Objective: Find all 11 Tōrō lanterns hidden throughout the Garden.
Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt (Ages 2-4)
Objective: Search and find the objects listed throughout the Garden.
Plant Press Activity Guide
Objective: Carry out pressing plant material for use in art.
Making Seed Balls
Objective: Learn more about the importance of native plants and the environment by using seed balls to reseed your landscape.
Planting A Three Sisters Garden
Objective: Learn about different ways plants symbiotically grow and support one another while developing a crop of delicious homegrown vegetables for you and your family.
Plant Parts We Eat
Objective: To introduce people to an assortment of vegetables and learn to locate the parts of plants that human beings use for food.
Salt Dough Fossils
Objective: Make your own fossils at home while developing a better understanding of how fossils are formed, as well as the two main types of fossils that paleontologists discover.
Lesson Plans
Prior to visiting the garden, teachers and educators can use these lessons to get the students thinking about botanical gardens and plant life. Each lesson is grounded in the specific TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) standards for that grade while considering the expected knowledge of the previous grade. There are expected durations and recommended procedures for each section, but these are general outlines for lessons. These inquiry-based lessons follow the 5E lesson plan format including a group activity designed to give each student agency in creating knowledge. Click the buttons below to download the lesson plan for each grade.
Please check back for updates as we are currently developing our educational offerings.