Childrens Garden

Discover the Children’s Garden.

OPEN

10am Wednesday to Sunday.

Open every day during Victorian school holidays. Open Victorian Public Holidays.

CLOSED

Mondays and Tuesdays

During winter from the start of Term 3 so the Garden can rest. Reopen Father's Day.

You’re going to love this Garden, filled with hidden delights, created just for you.

The Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden is nature-based play at its best, especially designed to help children connect with the natural world. Here you will discover so many wonderful plants – and some of the animals that visit them on their own special sculptures.

Head to the bamboo forest, climb the tower (did you see the possum?), run through the flax tunnel (watch out for the spider!), wind through the rocky gorge (careful of the skink!), visit the pond (did you spot the frog?), head over to the Kitchen Garden (what food did you see?!), and wrap your arms around our big bottle trees (because everyone needs a hug ).

We hope you have so much fun that you’ll want to come back – again and again and again.  

Looking for pollinators? 

"Keep an eye out for different types of butterflies that have flown here or been in those air channels up in the sky and found their way across the world to Melbourne. What else can you see visiting our Garden?" – Lenka Vanderboom, Learning Facilitator

Connecting to Country 

This Collection is on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people. As you explore the Gardens you will see four colours and four words in Woi-wurrung language on the signs to reflect the Traditional Owners’ connection to Country and this particular place. The word tanderrum refers to a cultural gathering place in Woi-wurrung and the signs in this area have pink highlights.

Notes from our team

"The Children’s Garden is an absolute pleasure to curate and maintain. My favourite part is the kitchen garden. I find boundless joy in curating the seasonal plantings and in growing edible plants.

You will find well-known vegetables growing beside unusual ones—not all vegetables look like supermarket ones! We close in winter to replant, cut back seasonal grasses, prune fruit trees and hazard check, but most of all to allow the lawns to rest and regenerate after all the compaction from little and big feet!”. Horticultural Curator, Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden. 

Plants for food! 

Visit the Kitchen Garden, where you’ll see food growing, and soil being made by worms and their friends, and bees being busy, and butterflies slurping nectar, and caterpillars munching leaves, and gosh!, it’s such a busy place! You'll also love the beautiful plant label illustrations created by Thornbury Primary School students as part of the Children's Garden's 20th Birthday celebrations. 

Every plant has a story

Beside many of the plants in this Garden you will find a little label that tells some of its story. Each plant has also been beautifully illustrated by Thornbury Primary School students. Aren’t they clever! 

Sonica Botanica: Kids Get Down to Earth 

Children take the mic in this episode created with students from Ardeer South Primary School. Made in 2024 to celebrate the 20th birthday of The Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden, this episode invites listeners to head off an adventure beyond the Children's Garden and experience the whole of Melbourne Gardens as children do. Llearn with them about the people and plants that make this place special. 

Hug a Bottle Tree!

Find the tree that looks like a giant bottle. It gives great hugs! Can you wrap your arms right around this tree?

Curious about the Children's Garden? 

Discover the plants selected for display in the Children's Garden on the Living Collections page. 

The Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden
View the Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden on map