Garden Fairies

I love the zoo...don't you???  Honestly, who doesn't.  That's why Riverbanks zoo is PACKED by 9:30am on any given day, even when it's 110 degrees outside.  That's why I decided to put our (then) four year old daughter in a Garden Program at Riverbanks Zoo.  Designed for 3-4 year olds, the 45min class includes a lesson, craft, and story.  And it's only $9.  It does require that an adult be present with the child, but I decided it would be a good mother/daughter bonding experience.

The class was scheduled to begin at 10:00am so we arrived a little early to make sure we had a good seat for the class.  When we arrived to the visitor center in the middle of the Botanical Gardens, the lights were off and not a soul was around.  I still wasn't worried, we were about 10min early.  We waited, and waited, and waited, and waited.  Finally a janitor came by and I immediately grabbed her to find out what was going on and she kindly went to go find someone who could help me.  We are now actually 5 minutes past time for the class to start.  I begin to panic because my daugher knows something isn't right.  She begins to whine.  She is hungry.  She has to go to the bathroom.  And all the time I just want to ask someone if I am in the right place because I am the ONLY person in the building.  Even the janitor is no where to be found anymore.  Finally another mother/daughter team come meandering into the building looking just as lost as I feel.  I basically tackle them and ask them why they're there.  Lucky for me, they're here for the same class as us.  Unlucky for us both, there's still no lights on and no one around.

Finally, 15 minutes after the class was supposed to start the janitor returns to tell me that someone would be there to start the class shortly.  At least now I know I am in the right place, but now I am HIGHLY annoyed at the disorganization of the Garden Fairies class.  A few moments later a young woman rushes by, turns on the lights, and shows us into a small classroom.  She tells us a story, we walk through the Botanical Garden looking for "fairies," (dolls the instructor had hidden in the flowers) and my completely unimpressed 4 year old and I then headed back to the clasroom to make a fairy doll of our own.  This was the highlight.  The doll was cute, but not really worth what became an hour of our time.  Especially when I was paying for childcare for my then 2 year old son.

To be fair, my oldest daughter is VERY hard to impress, but the Botanical Gardens could have put a little bit more thought into the organization of this class.  Because of this experience I can't recommend the Garden Programs for 3-4 year olds at Riverbanks Zoo Botanical Gardens.  I do, however hope that this is just an isolated experience, because like you, I heart Riverbanks Zoo.

http://www.riverbanks.org/education/garden.shtml

~Tyson