K-2nd Grade Available
September 22–October 31, 2025

After distinguishing between living and nonliving things, students explore the basic needs, parts and functions of pumpkin plants. Students discuss the life cycle of a pumpkin and plant their own seeds to take back to school for observation. A walk through the Arboretum’s Pumpkin Village is the perfect culmination of this lesson.

K-2^nd Grade
Available February 23–May 29, 2026

In this lab, students will discuss characteristics of living things and use those characteristics to differentiate between living and non-living things. They will explore the life cycles of plants, learning about the different ways seeds travels. Students will then observe seeds inside a cantaloupe and compare cantaloupe seeds to a variety of other seeds. Students will dissect a lima bean seed, discuss how a new plant grows from a seed, and then plant their own seed for continued observation at home.

K-2^nd Grade

Introduce your students to the world of geology as they take a closer look at rocks. In this program, students observe a diverse sample of rocks and sort the rocks by size, shape, color and texture. Students also observe a variety of everyday products that are made from rocks and identify the properties of the rocks used to make each product.

K-2^nd Grade

Do all leaves look the same? What about stems and roots? In this lab students identify basic plant parts and investigate plant diversity by comparing and contrasting the unique structures of live plants. Older students also explore how different structures allow plants to meet their needs.

K-2^nd Grade

Like all ecosystems, the Arboretum is a complex and active place, filled with interconnected organisms. In this lab, students explore small but significant members of our ecosystem: pill bugs. Students observe terrariums with live organisms to investigate living and nonliving things, basic needs of organisms and energy transfer in food chains.

2nd-5th Grade

The Arboretum is home to hundreds of plant and animal species, including many bugs! In this program, students identify ‘bug’ as an informal name given to terrestrial arthropods and observe live organisms to identify the traits that make insects different from other arthropods. Students look closely at various arthropod adaptations that support survival in different environments and investigate the unique life cycles of different organisms.

2nd-8th Grade

What is the purpose of pollination? In this lab, students will construct and use models of insects and flowers to investigate the process of pollination. They will examine the structures and functions of plants and pollinators that allow this process to occur and explore how it benefits both plants and animals.

3rd-6th Grade

What happens when an organism in an ecosystem disappears? Students first investigate 3 organisms: white-tailed deer, post oak trees and grey wolves and then create a model of the Post Oak Savannah to actively simulate how the local extinction of wolves in this area affects all components of the ecosystem. Each student acts as either a wolf or a deer in this engaging, interactive lab.

3rd-8th Grade

What environmental factors and landscape design choices must our horticulture staff consider when designing our seasonal plantings? In this multi-disciplinary lab, students work with actual Arboretum plant lists and design notes to create a landscape in the garden. Follow up the class with a visit to the space students just designed!

3rd-5th Grade

Every place has a story. In this lab, students explore the slow processes that create geological change: weathering, erosion and deposition. 3^rd and 4^th grade students investigate how these processes lead to the formation of soils and use this information to explain why soils have different properties. 5^th grade students identify how these processes lead to the formation of landforms and use this information to explain why certain places look the way they do and predict how areas could change in the future.

3rd-6th Grade

From plains to the coast, and piney woods to mountains and basins, Texas is home to a great diversity of flora. This program focuses on plants which are specially adapted to survive in our state’s diverse ecosystems. Through hands-on investigations, students refine their scientific observation skills while exploring cacti, sundews and other plants native to Texas. Get up close and personal with some of our state’s most fascinating plants!

How do our actions in North Texas contribute to the issue of marine debris? In this lesson students will explore how trash enters our waterways and ultimately flows to the ocean. They will then investigate an issue closer to home by making observations of a collection of objects that fell into one of the Arboretum’s water features. After determining the physical properties of each object, students will advise Arboretum staff on the best tool to use to retrieve each object.

How can we use different forms of energy to solve problems that arise in a garden? After exploring, describing and identifying four forms of energy (mechanical, light, thermal and sound) in everyday objects, students are presented with garden scenarios.  They are then challenged to design strategies to address the problems using different forms of energy.

How do volcanoes, earthquakes and landslides impact Earth’s surface? Students explore images that show the aftermath of volcanoes, landslides and earthquakes. Then they use models to further investigate these geological processes. Students are challenged to describe a strength and weakness of each model.

Take a bird’s-eye view of space! Students first create a human-sized model to demonstrate the relative positions of the Sun, Earth and Moon and the orbits of the Earth and our Moon. Then, they use 3D printed models to demonstrate the same concepts, in a different way. Finally, students are challenged to create their own 2D model to demonstrate their understanding.

What happens when the top predator leaves an ecosystem? In this lab, students identify the physical characteristics and ecological roles of 5 organisms: red wolves, post oak trees, turkey vultures, white-tailed deer and earthworms. Then, they create a food web to show how energy flows through this ecosystem. Finally, students play a game to explore how the local extinction of the red wolf in the eastern half of Texas impacts the entire food web.

Let us bring our live organisms to you! In this lesson students will make observations of four different arthropods at various stages in their life cycles and identify similarities and differences in how these organisms change over time.

What happens to our trash over time? In this lab, students first measure and record physical properties of a “fresh” piece of trash. Then, they measure and record the physical properties of that same type of trash that has been buried in soil for multiple weeks. Students use this data to discuss what happens to trash in a landfill and discuss what we can do to reduce the amount matter that is added to landfills.

Can a pickle light a lightbulb? First, students differentiate among forms of energy, including mechanical, electrical, light, thermal and sound. Then, they identify these various forms of energy in electrical circuits and experiment with building a pickle battery, creating a circuit which powers a lightbulb.

How has Earth’s surface changed over time? In this lab, students model and investigate the processes of weathering, erosion and deposition. Then, they create explanations about how these processes have slowly changed the surface of the Earth.

In this lab, students will move through 5 stations to investigate various components of the water cycle. They will identify how models can be used to represent natural phenomena and explore the sun’s role in the continuous movement of water above and on the surface of Earth.

How does energy flow through an ecosystem? Students will dissect owl pellets to discover what these birds of prey eat. They will then create a food web describing the flow of energy in the owl’s ecosystem.

After reviewing the basic structures and functions of plants, students work through three stations to observe and describe a diverse selection of leaves, stems and roots. Students then learn about different Texas environments and infer, based on their observations, which plant grows best in each environment.

What is a mixture? In this lab, students will first identify the differences between heterogeneous mixtures and solutions. They will then work in groups to create mixtures from a collection of beads and make observations of the physical properties of the mixture as compared to the physical properties of the ingredients. Finally students will explore soil as a mixture and investigate the ingredients that make up soil.

How does light travel? In this lesson, students will first complete three investigations to explore how light travels in a straight line and changes direction when reflected or refracted. They will then be challenged to use what they learned about light to design a prototype of an art piece for the Dallas Arboretum.

Why do we experience day and night? First, students make observations of a time-lapse video of the setting sun. Then, they experiment with two different models and construct an explanation based on direct and indirect evidence, to explain the cause of the day and night cycle.

Our arthropod collection will travel to you! In this lab, students observe live tarantulas, walking sticks, pill bugs and beetles in their habitats and identify interactions between living and nonliving components in these ecosystems.

Let us bring our ant farm collection to your classroom! In this lab, students explore and describe physical and behavioral traits while observing live ants. First, students observe and identify the traits ants share with all insects and the traits that make ants unique. Then, they discuss the behaviors of these social insects and identify the instinctual and learned behavioral traits that help ants survive.