Remember when we played outside until sunset—building forts, climbing trees, and losing ourselves in nature? Today, children often miss out on these simple joys, spending more time on screens than ever.
Naples Botanical Garden is bringing childhood back to its roots. Three Nature Play spaces—the first in Southwest Florida—encourage kids (and kid-at-heart adults) to romp, climb, explore, and imagine amid the lush world of tropical plants.
Designed by Garden staff, these playscapes provide a backdrop for endless stories to be invented, acted out, and resumed on a subsequent visit.
Benefits of Nature Play
Nature Play is unstructured, child-directed play that takes place in nature and with nature. Although simple in appearance, these researched-backed play areas counter today’s technology-heavy, sedentary lifestyles and encourage tremendous physical, social, and emotional development in children.
Through nature play, children gain:
- Balance, coordination, and strength
- Fine motor skills
- A willingness to take risks
- Imagination and creative thinking
- Emotional well-being and reduced anxiety
- Social development and collaborative problem-solving
- Family bonding and memory making
Discover Nature Play
Palm Hop
Located in the Kapnick Caribbean Garden
A felled ficus, craggy rocks, and stair-like stumps beckon young adventurers to test their physical prowess in the open space of the Ann and Senator Rick Scott Palm Hop.
Jungle Hollow
Located in the Kapnick Brazilian Garden
Entering this thicket is like stepping into a magical world. Children will discover a curio cabinet filled with botanical treasures, a fairy door, and plenty of nooks and crannies in which to play with friends, whether real or imagined. Kids and parents can contribute to a tapestry of woven fronds, leaves, and flowers using our staff-made nature looms.
Wonder Circle
Located on The Hoffmann Lawn
The Garden’s popular W.O.N.D.E.R. program has moved to this shady spot where families can participate in educator-led botanical crafts, games, and enrichment activities.
Musical Play
Benefits of musical play mirror those of Nature Play. Explore our instruments available to play all day in Palm Hop and Wonder Circle. These large-scale instruments produce warm, rich, full tones that resonate for several seconds, creating pleasant sounds whether you play a familiar tune or make up your own beat!
Plus! Join us at W.O.N.D.E.R. 10am – 12pm, Friday – Monday, to experiment with handheld instruments and make music together. From rain sticks to gourd rattles and guiros, humanity’s oldest instruments would not be possible without plants.
Every Garden admission ticket or membership purchase helps to support Naples Botanical Garden’s conservation efforts.
