Experience one of the most beautiful public gardens in the region! Green Spring programs deliver interactive learning and curricula that address Virginia SOLs.
Alert:
Step by Step Instructions to Request a Field Trip Date: Read all instructions before beginning your booking process
If you are requesting a date less than two weeks in advance, please call the park for availability.
Please note that sites limit the total number of students per day. Larger groups may be accommodated over multiple days.
Experience one of the most beautiful public gardens in the region! Green Spring programs deliver interactive learning and curricula that address Virginia SOLs.
Self-Guided Groups
Please call ahead (703-642-5173) to schedule a visit so staff is better able to manage visitor traffic.
Group admission fee (12 to 60 people): $30 for the group
Each additional person over 60 people: $1
September, October, March, April, May, and June from 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Explore the world of the garden. Investigate the living and nonliving things that make up soil, and learn how plants grow. Use your senses to discover vegetable and herb gardens. Look for signs of animals around the gardens. Dig in the dirt and plant seeds to take back to the classroom. (SOL: K.2, K.4, K.6, K.7, K.9)
September, October, April, May, and June
Share an American Indian tale in a story circle. Examine plants in the gardens as you learn about the plant life cycle. Touch turtle shells and deer antlers at an interactive animal station. Explore trees and their seasonal changes along a woodland trail. (SOL: Science 1.4, 1.5, 1.7, 1.8)
September, October, April, May, and June
Learn the life cycle of the frog and explore its habitat and ecosystem. Follow the monarch caterpillar on its journey through metamorphosis and migration. Examine the cycle of seed from flower to fruit in a botany lab. (SOL: Science 2.4, 2.5, 2.7, 2.8, 3.4, 3.8)
November, December, January, February, and March
Explore the secrets of soil from erosion to weathering and from bedrock to topsoil. Get the scoop on clay, silt, sand, and humus in a soil lab. Tour the park to see how water and weather shape the land. Journey through the water cycle, and discover the connections between soil and water using an Enviroscape watershed model. (SOL Science 2.7, 2.8, 3.7, 3.9, 3.10)
November, December, January, February, and March
Producer or consumer, carnivore or herbivore. Which are you? Discover how animals adapt when survival is the name of the game. Explore the food web, search for wildlife and habitats outside, and discover one of the smallest predators in the Ladybug Lab! (SOL Science 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.8)
October, November, December, January, February, and March
Explore Virginia's rich flora and fauna. Learn about the fascinating adaptations plants and animals have developed to survive. Take a close look at a watershed, and test water quality in a water analysis lab. Discover plant adaptations in a walk along a native plant trail. Learn about the local food web and the many cooperative relationships that plants and animals share. (SOL Science 3.8, 3.10, 4.4, 4.5, 5.1, 5.5, 5.7)
September, October, and November
Visit Green Spring Gardens, the site of a former colonial tobacco plantation, to discover the four most important colonial cash crops – peanuts, tobacco, cotton and corn. Tour the gardens and visit the Historic House to learn the fascinating botany and origins of these plants. Discover how their cultivation changed the course of history in Virginia and throughout the world. (SOL Science 4.4, 4.8, Vs 1e, VS 2b, VS 2c, VS 3a, VS 4a)
October, November, December, January, and February
Journey to the core of Earth, from rocks, quakes, and volcanoes to plate tectonics. Explore how rocks form through the rock cycle. Identify rocks using a dichotomous key in a rock lab, and tour the park to see how nature and humans alter the land. (SOL 5.1, 5.7)
December, January, and February
Schedule a MWEE Outreach program for your fourth- or fifth-grade class to help meet the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement education requirements for elementary school students. Instructors from Green Spring Gardens will come to your school to teach a three-station, 1.5-hour program on your watershed and litter for up to 65 students/program.
Optimal months: September, October, March, April, May, and June from 10:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
(Science SOL: K.1, K.3, K.5, K.6, K.7)
Optimal months: September, October, March, April, May, and June from 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
(Science SOL: 1.1, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7)
Optimal months: September, October, April, May, and June from 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
(Science SOL: 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 2.7, 2.8)
Year-round 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
(Science SOL: 3.1, 3.3, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8)
Year-round 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
(Science SOL: 3.1, 3.4, 3.5, 3.8)
Year-round 10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
(Science SOL: 3.1, 3.4, 3.5, 3.7, 3.8, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.8)
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Please keep the following in mind to help make your trip a success.
