New outdoor nature play area opens at Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden.

DES MOINES, Iowa (October 13, 2023) – With support from the Rotary Club of Des Moines Foundation, City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation, Country Landscapes, Beisser Lumber, Neumann Brothers, Inc. and many talented and generous Botanical Garden volunteers, the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden is opening an outdoor nature play area on Friday, October 20, 2023.

Members of the media are invited to attend the grand opening ceremony on October 20 from 9 to 10 a.m. Partners and supporters of the project will be in attendance and Chief Program Officer, Whitney Bouma, will present a brief program. Juice, coffee, and light morning snacks will be provided.

The outdoor nature play area is designed to further engage children and families and is located on the northernmost edge of the Founders Garden. This new amenity offers youth of all ages the opportunity to engage in safe, unstructured outdoor play and includes large logs to climb on, stumpery to balance across, a tunnel to run through, a loom to weave natural materials on, and so much more! Families visiting the Garden, students on a field trip, program participants, and all Botanical Garden guests will be able to explore, create, move, and play in this space.

“Compared to both indoor and traditional playgrounds, children in outdoor natural settings were reported to be more relaxed, happier, less impulsive, more focused, more creative, and better behaved.”

– Children, Youth & Environments Center, University of Colorado
A Post-Occupancy Study of Nature-Based Outdoor Classrooms in Early Childhood Settings by Dennis, S.F., Wells, A., & Bishop, C. (2014) Children, Youth and Environments 24(2): 35-52.

The installation of the nature play area is the first step in providing our community with youth-focused outdoor play opportunities and will eventually lead to a larger scale nature play area and children’s garden as we develop our additional acreage over the next several years.

Did you know…
Nature play, especially in intentionally designed nature playscapes:
• Promotes child development skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, visual-spatial thinking, and more
• Facilitates social development and well-being
• Improves physical fitness
• Supports creativity and imaginative play
• Inspires collaborative play
• Reduces violence and bullying
• Reduces stress
• Creates empathy for plants and animals
This vision is being brought to life thanks to $40,000 in Community Grant funding from Rotary Club of Des Moines Foundation.