Program Planning Examples from The Morton Arboretum

New Program Proposal Worksheet

Program/Course Planning Worksheet

Information for Instructors

Instructor Agreement Template

Instructor Welcome Letter Form

Youth Education and Programming

Virtual Engagement K–12 Bundles (The Morton Arboretum): Themed activities (all free)

• Field Trips
• Celebrate Trees!
• Climate Change
• Plants, Seasons, and Pollinators
• Seed and Growth in Different Habits
• Life Cycles and Adaptations
• Energy and Ecosystems
• Plant Growth and Reproduction
• Photosynthesis and Respiration

Plant Heroes: Hands-on materials to educate kids about ecosystems, forests, trees, pests, diseases, etc. (American Public Gardens Association)

Youth Program Planning Worksheet (The Morton Arboretum)

Youth and Family Program Evaluation Form (The Morton Arboretum)

Examples from the ArbNet Community

Education Activity—Angiosperms and Gymnosperms (Lockerly Arboretum)

Tree and Me Activity Kit (Green-Wood Cemetery)

Field Trip Activities Handbook (The Brenton Arboretum)

Field Trip Planning Guide (The Brenton Arboretum)

Seed Your Future: The movement promotes horticulture and inspires people to pursue careers working with plants

Inspiring the Next Generation to Pursue Careers in Horticulture: Strategies for Public Gardens (Seed Your Future, 2018)

Growing a Nature Preschool (Queens Botanical Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden, and Newfields, Wolf et al., 2018)

Privet, Pollination, and Preservation: Teaching about Conservation (State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Keber, 2018)

Nature Based Learning Summit Proceedings (2018)

Learn to Engage Modules: For botanic garden staff and museum educators to learn how to engage diverse audiences (Botanic Gardens Conservation International)

Schoolyard Forest System Resource Library (Green Schoolyards America 2024)

Outdoor Learning: The Importance of Trees (PlaygroundEquipment.com)

Adult Education and Programming

Adult Class Evaluation Form (The Morton Arboretum)

Starting from Scratch: A Beginner’s Guide to Developing New Events (American Public Gardens Association Conference Presentation,2018)

• Starting from Scratch (JC Raulston Arboretum)
• Developing New Events for the Small Garden (Smith-Gilbert Gardens)

Education and Outreach Presentation (ArbNet Conference, 2021)

Interpretive Master Plan (Green-Wood Cemetery)

Interpretive Plan (The Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden, 2018)

Nature Rx: (Re) Connecting Humans with Their Native Habitats (UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, Kiers and Parker, 2018)

Pricing and Planning Continuing Education Programs (multi-organization collaboration, Laslette et al., 2018)

Audience Research and Evaluation

Considerations for Conducting Evaluation Using a Culturally Responsive and Racial Equity Lens (Center for Culturally Responsive Engagement, Elam and Walker, 2021)

Why am I always being researched? (Chicago Beyond Equity Series, 2019)

Community Survey and Engagement Report (University of Washington Botanic Gardens, Washington Park Arboretum, 2023)

Survey Responses Identify Community Member Interest in Visiting Public Gardens and Arboreta (HortTechnology, Kelley et al., 2020)

Pretesting public garden exhibits enhances their educational value for people with diverse abilities (HortTechnology, Larson and Hoover, 2003)

Science Communication

Sparking Curiosity (Longwood Gardens, Turner-Skoff, 2024)

Sharing Science (Roots special edition, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, 2016)

Effective Communication, Better Science (Scientific American, Feliú-Mójer, 2015)

Inclusive Science Communication Starter Kit (U.S. National Science Foundation and University of Rhode Island, Metcalf Institute, DiCenzo et al., 2021)

Communicating Science Effectively (U.S. National Academies, 2017)

Storytelling Using the ABT (And, But, Therefore) Method (TED, Randy Olson, 2013)

Community Programs and Participatory Science

How Can Botanic Gardens Grow Their Social Role (Communities in Nature, Lynch, 2015)

Interagency Citizen Science Toolkit: Toolkit, case studies, and training modules

(Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park, 2024) 

Citizen Science (SciStarter)

A Gamification Approach: Utilizing Citizen Science to Increase Interest in STEM (The North Carolina Arboretum, Marchal, 2018)

Chicago Region Trees Initiative (The Morton Arboretum)

Forest Releaf of Missouri (Forest Releaf Arboretum)

Public Events

Celebrating Arbor Day (Arbor Day Foundation)

Cemetery Arboreta Sample Events (ArbNet)

Interpretation Examples from the ArbNet Community

Interpretive Master Plan (Green-Wood Cemetery)

Interpretive Plan (The Wilbur D. May Arboretum and Botanical Garden, 2018)

Navigating nature, culture and education in contemporary botanic gardens (Environmental Education Research, Sanders et al., 2018)

Care for the Rare: Interpretation for conservation (Botanic Gardens Conservation International)

BGCI Interpretation Resources (Botanic Gardens Conservation International)

Stretch Your Exhibit Beyond Typical: Build New Audiences and Collaboration (The Dow Gardens, Morris Arboretum, The Morton Arboretum, Lumbert et al., 2016)​

Education and Events Visitation Report (Moore Farms Botanical Garden, Turk, 2015)

Engaging Visitors with Exhibits and Seasonal Displays (Atlanta Botanical Gardens, 2017)

Fusing Seasonal Display Planning (Chanticleer Garden, Benarcik, 2017)

Displaying a Large and Institution-wide Thematic Display (Chicago Botanic Garden, Pollak, 2017)

Large Scale Conservatory Displays (Longwood Gardens, Sutton, 2017)

Seasonal and Annual Planning (Rotary Botanical Gardens, 2017)

Volunteer Organizing

Volunteer Program Manual (Longwood Gardens, 2012)