I’ve lived in the Milwaukee area for my entire life and I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never been to the Boerner Botanical Gardens. It’s always been on my Milwaukee Bucket List for quite some time, but we’ve never found time (terrible excuse, I know). When I heard about the new Margie’s Children’s Garden it took about 5 minutes for me to add it to our weekend to-do list. I’m SO happy we did! This little gem is one of my new favorite places in the Milwaukee area. Check it out…
Margie’s Children’s Garden is a new 2-acre fully accessible garden designed completely for kids. The garden’s namesake is Margaret “Margie” Kezman, a local teacher who died in May 2019. Many of the ideas in the garden were inspired by her love of flowers and children. It was designed to be an enchanted space for kids to explore, discover and have fun! And, let me tell you, they delivered!
The new garden is located to the west of the Education & Visitor Center. When you exit the visitor center, turn right and you won’t miss it. That’s actually a highlight that I noticed right away because it’s separate from the rest of the gardens, which you enter across the street. As a mom, I really appreciate that the children’s garden is separate so I don’t feel bad if my kids are loud while exploring in the children’s space. It allows for people to enjoy the other gardens without the “disruptions” from the kids.
When you enter the garden, there are natural paths to guide you through the space. The garden is fully accessible and is wheelchair and stroller friendly.
The first little area we explored was the little blue house, where my boys had a blast playing peek-a-boo through the windows. They also discovered the Storybook Nook little library, full of books they could read in the reading circle.
Next on the journey was the Number Garden, where you walk along the path and enjoy the hidden numbers in the garden. There is also a similar Alphabet Garden.
When you exit the Number Garden, you enter the Boardwalk Path, which brings you on a little journey to see the woodland plants and find the bird’s nest. You exit the path with slides that shoot you right down onto the next area.
Throughout the garden, the kids also found many different statues that were actually instruments. There were lady bugs, pine trees, flowers and traditional instruments where they could play and dance together.
My boys are climbers so their favorite area was probably the climbing stumps that were scattered in the Enchanted Village. It even included a tee-pee they could climb and hang from.
The last area of the garden is a Growing Center, where kids can literally dig right in! There are dirt gardens with tethered tools where kids can dig and play in the dirt. There’s also a little working station where they can make plants.
When you’re done in Margie’s Children’s Garden, don’t forget to explore the other gardens throughout the grounds. We did a little walk throughout the rest of the park and I was astonished by how beautiful and tranquil the grounds were. Our boys loved running down the paths and seeing the different areas – especially the coy pond!
I hope you have as much fun exploring as we did!