The Living Lab Elementary Field Trip Program at the Bellevue Botanical Garden

The Bellevue Botanical Garden Society works in partnership with the City of Bellevue to achieve the Garden’s mission. Part of the Society’s role is to provide a broad range of educational programs to engage, inspire and inform Garden visitors. The Living Lab Classroom Outreach Program serves the local community and is part of our Youth & Children’s Educational Program. This free program provides quality science and botany-related educational opportunities for youth.

Living Lab Field Trips

These field trips/workshops are in-person at the Garden with a choice of the thematic grade-specific workshops. We can take up to 60 students (K-2nd grades) and 72 students (3rd-5th grades). If you have more students than that, you will need to request two dates. Requests are open to public and private elementary school teachers and home school groups.

A curriculum has been developed for each grade level (K-5). Each workshop aligns well with the Washington State Next Gen science standards and math or social studies current CORE curriculum, as well as the Bellevue and Lake Washington school districts, and many private school curricula. There is a list of standards available for teachers for each workshop. For those teachers who have participated in the past, we have made some changes to the curriculums mostly to increase hands-on learning, student directed learning, COVID safety, and time outdoors. Download the Guide to the thematic grade-specific activities we offer.

Request a Field Trip

Requests should be made using our online form.

Dates

We are accepting requests for upcoming field trips. Our fall session typically starts on the third week of September and goes through the third week of October. Our spring session starts the last week of March and goes through the third week in June. In general, we schedule in-person Living Lab field trips on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30 am with some flexibility.

Our goal is to serve as many schools/groups as possible in a fair, safe, and inclusive way. You can make as many requests as you like. However, we will be considering how many groups are coming from the same school and limiting that to two grade levels per Fall or Spring session.

Admission

Free to all students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The suggested donation is $5 per student to cover material costs.

Homeschool & Small Groups

Homeschool and small groups are invited to attend our Living Lab program. Please fill out a request form, and we will work with you to find a date when your group can join another scheduled group.

Field Trip Descriptions by Grade Level

DOWNLOAD DESCRIPTIONS

Requests should be made using our online form

ACCESS FORM

Thanks to our community partner

“We LOVED the Living Lab teachers and lessons … What a gift!”
-Kindergarten teacher

“Students enjoyed the tour of the garden … Hands-on activities are definitely a plus of this field trip!”
-2nd grade teacher

“My students loved getting to explore the gardens. They also enjoyed researching a plant and finding it … Thank you for hosting this program!”
-5th grade teacher

Other Options

In-school Program

We offer a limited number of in-school programs for classrooms that would like a Living Lab experience at their site. The cost is $200 (plus sales tax) for a one-hour session for up to 30 students. Programs are typically scheduled on weekday afternoons or on Thursdays. To request a visit, please email us. Available topics include:

Leaves – preschool, lower elementary, ties in with kindergarten standards.
Flowers – lower elementary, ties in with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade standards.
Ecosystems – upper elementary, ties in with 4th and 5th grade standards.

Tours

If you want a tour of the Garden for your class led by a volunteer and without workshop activities, see the Request a Youth Tours page and fill out a request there.

Virtual Resources

We offer virtual resources for grades K-5 that can be accessed at any time.

Virtual Speaker

If you would like to have a speaker from the garden do a presentation to your group via your platform, email us.

After school and weekend offerings

See our Youth & Children’s Workshops page for after school and weekend youth & children programs.

Our Staff and Volunteers

The Living Lab School Program is run by a staff of professional teachers, as well as our amazing volunteers. We strive to provide your students with a positive field trip experience.

If you have questions about volunteering with Living Lab, email us. Current volunteers may sign up on Volgistics. New volunteers can apply online

Living Lab