Families need nature at all times of the year! Join the Arboretum for a family hike where you will look for seeds that fly, seeds that float, seeds that get buried away, and seeds that travel through an animal’s stomach.

This event is free and open to all and most suitable for children ages four through ten.

Learn more about Family Hike: Seeds, Seeds, Seeds!...

Venture into the Arboretum landscape with caterpillar expert Sam Jaffe. Sam will wander the landscape highlighting host plants and the insects they support, focusing his attention on caterpillars, moths, and butterflies. Bring a camera to document your discoveries and a notebook to record identification tips and plant suggestions for expanding the array of butterflies your garden or park can support.

This event is suitable for adults and children ages 12 and older. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Cost: $10 for...

Join the Arnold Arboretum for a late night learning adventure to discover the nocturnal invertebrates that are flitting about the Arboretum after hours. Naturalist Sam Jaffe will start the evening in the classroom with some introductory information about the life-cycles of moths and other night flyers. He’ll then lead the group outdoors for a moth lighting at which we will admire and study a variety of nocturnal insects. Back in the classroom, microscopes and other field guides will allow us to make clear identifications of these lesser-seen beauties.

This event is suitable...

Sam Jaffe, naturalist and educator, will present both the collaborative and deceitful nature of insects and plants as they’ve evolved to rely upon one another. This lecture, illustrated with Sam’s gorgeous photographs, will expand your invertebrate knowledge, appreciation, and desire to be the best garden host you can be.

Cost:
$10 for members; $15 for nonmembers.

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Families need nature at all times of the year! After meeting inside the main gate at the Visitor Center, you'll visit a nearby forest inside the Arboretum and learn what plants and animals live there. Visitors will get a chance to play with forest puppets, get a tattoo, and read a StoryWalk ®.

Free and open to all, most suitable for children ages four through ten.

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Come to an Information Session and learn about volunteering as a field study guide leading science programs for Boston Public School students.

Learn more about Information Session: Arnold Arboretum Field Study Volunteers.

The Caterpillar Lab, from Keene, New Hampshire, comes to the Arnold Arboretum for 5 days of astonishing exhibits. Explore the amazing world of caterpillars on a whole new level. There will be live caterpillars, cocoons, hatched eggs, shed skins, and much more. Visitors of all ages will be amazed!

Learn more about The Caterpillar Lab.

Did you know that almost all of the plants in the Arboretum begin their lives in the Dana Greenhouses? Get a behind-the-scenes look of the greenhouse growing process, from seed to sprout to seedling to tree.

Learn more about and register for From Seed to Tree.

This is part of the new Science in Our Park Series. Come to the Arnold Arboretum and be a scientist! Get your hands onto scientific tools, use your observation skills, and share your findings with others.

Catch Some Rays! will let you harness the power of the sun. Help to create solar ovens, test the ability of various garden bed coverings to keep roots cool, and plant a sunflower seed that will follow the sun.

Please note: One adult may bring a maximum of three children; suitable for children ages five and up.

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Sarah Cross, the Arnold Arboretum's exhibiting artist of Between the Leaves, will hold a cyanotype printing workshop for families. Join Sarah to make beautiful blue prints of leaves and blooms found at the Arboretum, while you learn about this alternative printing technique. After making your own unique cyanotype photogram, you will be able to take it home. All materials will be provided.

Please note: This free drop-in activity is appropriate for ages 7 and up.

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As part of the Highland Street Foundation's Free Fun Fridays! program, enjoy free activities at the Arnold Arboretum like:

• Arborist Station: Meet an Arboretum arborist and see them in action. Try on arborist protective gear and get up close and personal with the special tools used by arborists.
• Watercolor Station:  Become inspired by the beauty of the Arboretum and use...

What better place to look for the differences between angiosperms (plants that flower and have enclosed seeds), and gymnosperms (plants with "naked seeds," including conifers, ginkgos, and others), than in the Arnold Arboretum landscape, where over 15,000 plants reside in a living museum. Join our guide as she points out trees in both groups and describes the characteristics of each.

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Improve your health and well-being with yoga. We will practice poses, breathing and meditation in the tranquil setting of the Arnold Arboretum.

This event is cosponsored by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and the National Park Service Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.

In the case of inclement weather, the session will move indoors (Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall)....

Join Paul Olson, the Arnold Arboretum's exhibiting artist of Drawn to Paint, for a sketching workshop "en plein air" (outside, in the landscape). Olson, an instructor at Mass College of Art and RISD, will focus on teaching you to sketch trees from direct observation outdoors. He will encourage you to think about simplifying your design with just the essential shapes to make a good composition in light pencil. Then, you can use ink and water for an expressive tonal image. Bring pencils and sketchbooks; some supplies will be available.

Cost: $10 for...

Enjoy hundreds of fragrant lily flowers at the 72nd Annual International Lily Show. You will be amazed by the vibrant colors and diversity of scents on display. Discover the genus Lilium!

Learn more about the Lily Show at the Arnold Arboretum.