The Kentucky Children’s Garden had an amazing 2024 season, sharing the joy and wonder of nature with children and their families for our 14th year. Our wonderful team of education staff and volunteers helped us welcome so many new families from the community. We are so grateful for your support for all that we accomplished this season, as summarized below. 

• Total attendance this year reached 16,336. This includes all general, member, complementary and field trip admission as well as special event attendance.   

• 194 season memberships were held. A season membership allows up to five people admission to the KCG each day we are open. It is great for families who love to visit regularly.  

• Seven different public schools attended staff-administered field trips for grades K-2. These trips include rotations through education stations. 723 students visited us for a field trip.  

• 43 small groups visited, including preschools, birthday parties, Montessori schools, homeschools, girl scouts, elementary programs and summer camps. Small groups are organized visits to the KCG during our normal hours of operation. These can be requested through a form at Kentucky Children's Garden Group Visits.

• Throughout the season, 101 daily educational programs were offered. A total of 2,652 children were able to learn from education staff. Programming included tree identification, Kentucky traditions, birds, plant adaptations, soil, pollinators, plant characteristics and more. These programs run from 10 a.m. to noon each day we are open and typically take 7-15 minutes.   

• The KCG had a total of 21 regular volunteers serving for 755 hours. We also had several one-time volunteers for events and special activities, contributing to our total volunteer hours. Volunteers served as greeters, train conductors, field trip leaders and event station leaders.   

• On May 18th, with free admission for Addie’s Day, we welcomed 1,160 guests. Six programming stations were hosted from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Plant-A-Seed, Field Games, Bubbles, Skulls & Furs, Rock Painting and Tissue Paper Flowers.   

• Arbor Day was celebrated on October 19th with 1,640 attending. Seven programming stations were hosted from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Making Paper, Tree Cookie Necklaces, Tree Painting, Bubbles, Leaf Art, Skulls & Furs and Field Games. Nine local organizations and UK clubs hosted tables. 

In future years, we hope to offer more field trips for more schools. To achieve this, while sustaining all our other educational and outreach activities, we are always in need of more great volunteers.  

Thank you for another wonderful year in the Kentucky Children’s Garden and we look forward to seeing you again in April!