The Magic of Children's Gardens: Inspiring Through Creative Design

by Lolly Tai

Children’s gardens are magical places where kids can interact with plants, see where food and fibers grow, and experience the role of birds, butterflies, and bees in nature. These gardens do more than just expose youngsters to outdoor environments, they also provide marvelous teaching opportunities for them to visit a small plot, care for vegetables and flowers, and interact in creative spaces designed to stimulate all five senses.  In  The Magic of Children’s Gardens,  landscape architect Lolly Tai provides the primary goals, concepts and key considerations for designing outdoor spaces that are attractive to and suitable for children especially in urban environments. Tai presents inspiring ideas for creating children’s green spaces by examining nearly twenty case studies, including the Chicago Botanic Gardens and  Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. The Magic of Children’s Gardens  features hundreds of comprehensive drawings and gorgeous photographs of successful children’s outdoor environments, detailed explanations of the design process, and the criteria needed to create attractive and pleasing gardens for children to augment their physical, mental, and emotional development. Exposing youth to well-planned outdoor environments promotes our next generation of environmental stewards. The Magic of Children's Gardens  offers practitioners a guide to designing these valued spaces.

Genres: Nonfiction

352 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2017

Reviews

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all lovers of nature, and gardens in particular. Beautiful photography.

[Tina Panik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of ideas for those who want to design a garden for children (or even curious adults!). Full of creative pictures, as well.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at public children's gardens across the country. Their plans, plants used, purposes. A great look through for simpler ideas for your home garden.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't wait to visit some of these gardens this summer and next!

[Maia Chowdhury · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully illustrative guide to creating gardens that entertain, educate and delight; garden-lovers of all ages will benefit from the design ideas in this book. I am putting this at the forefront of my visionary ecology non-fiction book list!

The Magic of Children's Gardens: Inspiring Through Creative Design