PROSPECT HEIGHTS — A puppet show, live music and all-day arts-and-crafts are coming to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden this weekend for the opening of its brand new children’s garden — all for free.
The Discovery Garden, rebuilt and renovated specifically for hands-on exploring by young kids, will open to the public on Saturday, June 6 with a free festival for tots and their families.
From 1:30 to 4 p.m., the creator of the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade will lead a “Winged Rumpus” to open up the garden, organizers said, complete with puppets, jazz-playing stilt walkers from the Shinebone Alley Stilt Band, dancing butterflies from Mark Lamb Dance and a ragtime performance by the animal-costumed group, the Xylopholks.
Other activities include an antennae-making station, a scrap-sculpture dragonfly, a winged creature-finding nature walk and an audio scavenger hunt in the garden itself, which mimics New York’s marsh, meadow and woodland habitats and is designed with a mix of paths and boardwalks.
With the opening, a new slate of programming is set to begin at the Discovery Garden this summer, as well. Weekday drop-in programs at the new garden for toddlers and elementary school-aged kids are available throughout the season, as are weekend programs for families.
The Discovery Garden opening festival begins at 1 p.m. and is free and open to the public. In celebration of the new garden, admission to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is also free on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
