Garden Highlights Menu

Come Learn With Us!

Storytime in the Garden:

For ages 3 to 7. Select Sundays and Mondays, 10 to 10:45 a.m. See link below for schedule and registration:

Spring Storytime Schedule and Registration Link

Upcoming Programs:

Birding in the Garden: 5/17, 6/14
Sensory-Friendly Butterfly Experience, 4/15, 5/12, 6/18, 7/12, 8/29
Youth Nature Photograph y: 5/31
Yoga Sprouts! Saturdays, 4/18 to 6/6 (no class 4/25)

*All of Brookside’s programs are listed in our digital magazine on this website: Spring and Summer 2026 Cultivate Program Guide

Youth participants making native seed balls on a field trip

Learn More

Brookside Gardens is a wonderful place for the whole family to engage with botany, gardening, and wildlife. Learn more by clicking on each section, below.

School Field Trips

*** Update ***

The Field Trip Request Form is CLOSED for the 2025-2026 school year.

We are booked through the 2025-2026 school year and do not have any available field trip dates remaining.

*********************************************************

Field trip programs are offered Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings by reservation only. Most 90 minute field trip programs run from 10:30 am -12 pm. Field Trips DO NOT include tickets to the Butterfly Experience.

Read more about the program options below.

Plants & Pollinators: Grades PreK – K

Learn about plants with a guided outdoor exploration and pot a plant to take home. Designed for young learners in Pre K (ages 4+) and K. (60 minutes, outdoors)

Plants & Pollinators: Grade 1 and Up

Learn about the structure and function of plant anatomy and the pollinators they depend upon with a guided outdoor exploration and pot a plant to take home. *Select this option for any Plant and Pollinator Program for grades 1-12. (90 minutes, outdoors)

Erosion & Water on the Landscape: Grade 4 and Up

Use a map and make observations about erosion, native plants, and the water cycle. Make and take home native seed balls. (90 minutes, outdoors)

Water Quality in the Watershed: Grade 5 and Up

Use chemistry to test the health of our namesake “brook” and learn about the Chesapeake Bay. (90 minutes, outdoors)

Service Learning: Grades 9 – 12

Bring your students to work on a service-learning project pulling invasive plants. Along the naturalized borders of our property, learn to identify some common invasives and get hands-on experience managing their spread. (90 minutes, strenuous, outdoors)

All field trip programs are completely outdoors and all participants should come prepared for the weather on their scheduled field trip day. All field trip programs are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). For questions or more information, please email Liz.Bullock@MontgomeryParks.org

Field trips must be scheduled and confirmed with the Youth Education Team at Brookside Gardens at least 10 business days in advance. Service-Learning field trips must be scheduled and confirmed 20 business days in advance.

Field Trip Programs DO NOT include tickets to the indoor Butterfly Experience.

logo Maryland Association for environmental and outdoor education

Field Trips, Professional Development, and Outreach Programs at Brookside Gardens count towards MAEOE Green School Certification.

Social stories aid children by helping them learn how to respond appropriately to daily activities or events.

Hello!

Today I am going on a field trip to Brookside Gardens!

I am prepared to spend the entire field trip outdoors.

I have used the bathroom before we left school so that I won’t need to while we are in the Gardens.

I wore comfortable, close-toed shoes and clothes that can get dirty.

I have a warm layer if it will be cold. If there is a chance of rain, I will wear waterproof shoes and a rain jacket. I might even bring an umbrella.

When I get to the main entrance of Brookside Gardens, the bus will drive over a grate that makes the bus very bumpy. It is made to keep deer outside the Gardens.

The entrance to Brookside Gardens. — Entrance to the gardens

When I get to the Visitor Center, I know I might have to wait on the bus until it is safe to exit, and I might need to listen to announcements from our teacher or bus driver.

When I get off the bus, I will line up with my group (most likely my class), and we will meet our guide. We’ll say hello, learn the rules, and hear the plan for the trip.

Staff photographed. — These are some of the **guides** who will keep me safe and help me have fun!

Now it’s time to follow the guide! Here are some of the things we may do:

Outdoor Exploration

The guide will lead my group through the garden areas observing plant and insect activity. We will walk about a ½ mile of small hills on paved and natural surface trails.

I will be encouraged to look, listen, smell, and even gently touch different plants found in the garden. I may also see insects and animals that I will not touch.

Hands-On Activity

After the walk, I will work on a project with my class. To complete the project, I might have to touch soil and water. Each type of field trip has their own type of project, too:

Plants and Pollinators – We might be potting a plant to take home.
Water Quality – We might do chemical tests with a test tube and water samples from a bucket.
Erosion – We might do a mapping activity and make seed balls to take home.
Service-learning – We might learn how to weed and garden outside using gardening tools.

Conservatory

My group might go inside of the Conservatory, a room where plants live.

The conservatory might be hot and humid.

If I go inside this building, I will not touch any plants in there.

School buses lined up.

After all our adventures, we return to the bus area to leave the gardens with our group.

We don’t get on the bus until our teacher tells us that it is time to board.

Thanks for coming!

Summer Camp 2026

Otus, the Owl Mascot at Montgomery Parks, is pictured waving from the entrance of the freshly painted play house in the garden.

Brookside Gardens offers a variety of programs for youth of all ages. Sign up for activities, classes, and events for youth online through ActiveMontgomery.

Field trips and professional development from Brookside Gardens count towards your MAEOE Green School Certification!