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With the opening of the new ‘Children’s Garden’, Al Ain Wildlife Park & Resort (AWPR) demonstrates that learning can be a fun-filled outdoor activity. Designed to inspire children of all ages with a love for biodiversity, the Children’s Garden showcases the beauty of plants on a 2,000 square-metre area next to the park’s Education Centre.
The first phase of the landscape includes a flower garden to delight the eye, the rolling hills for play and picnic, a native plant garden to showcase plants indigenous to the UAE and to demonstrate how to conserve water and encourage wildlife, a recycled garden, a vegetable garden with a mix of fruit trees and vegetables typically found in Al Ain and a demonstration vegetable and herb garden. A true horticulture highlight is the spectacular African Baobab trees that frame the Children’s Garden. Being an important part of the landscape design of the AWPR project development, it demonstrates how some plants can adapt to dry conditions.
Future phases of the Children’s Garden will include the installation of play equipment and a maze, a native butterfly garden of bright and colourful plants with a sun dial, and expanded flower gardens.
Mrs. Muna AlDhaheri, Education Manager of AWPR, said: “The new Children’s Garden provides both students and teachers with a natural, multi-sensory classroom that uses living artifacts and hands-on experiences to develop awareness and greater respect for our natural world. Our objective is to introduce children to the simple pleasures of playing in a garden surrounded by nature. This interactive learning environment enables children to learn about the beauty, value and ecological benefits of plants. Special emphasis is given to native trees and traditional herbs and vegetables of the UAE, an invaluable part of the nation’s biological heritage.”
Education experts are recognizing an ever increasing problem called “nature deficit disorder” where children have been deprived of the healthy physical, social and intellectual benefits of outdoor play in a natural space. The Children’s Garden encourages children to see, hear, touch and smell the beautiful garden, and experienced Education Centre personnel will provide structured learning opportunities that will teach and inspire the young generation.
The Children’s Garden is part of the vast programme offering of AWPR’s Education Centre, currently providing schools with 46 different guided and self-guided tours and programs. The Children’s Garden programme includes a tour of the wildlife park and a range of science, arts and literacy based activities for all ages focusing on the different areas within the garden.
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