Kids Get Cosmic!

April 10–October 31, 2021

10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.

Everett Children’s Adventure Garden
Included in all ticket types

Observe Pumpkins and Gourds

Starts September 18

Pumpkins and Scarecrows returns to the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden with a Yayoi Kusama twist. Families will be able to explore and learn about pumpkins and gourds observing the unique shapes and textures found in the Cucurbit family and create their own clay pumpkin sculpture in a variety of shapes and colors inspired by Kusama’s favorite plant, the pumpkin!

A child with medium-length brown hair wearing a mask and an orange shirt holding up a small green ball with beads on it resembling a face. A shorter child with short curly hair and a grey-and-white mask looks downward beside her, while another child with medium-length brown curly hair wearing a red shirt, black pants, and a black mask looks at some sort of green material in their hand.

Nature Scavenger Hunt

Pick up a Scavenger Hunt pamphlet with fun, self-guided activities including searching for plants with the infinite dot patterns that inspired Kusama and drawing items from nature in the style found in Kusama’s early sketchbook.

Story Time

Saturdays & Sundays; 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m.
Seedlings Circle

Kids and their families enjoy a reading of Yayoi Kusama: From Here to Infinity. Filled with reproductions of Kusama’s art, this colorful book tells the story of an artist determined to cover the world with her dots, from here to infinity. For ages 4–8.

Illustration © Ellen Weinstein

Illustration by Ellen Weinstein, from Yayoi Kusama: From Here to Infinity

Pot Up a Spooky Flower

Families will be able to take home their own potted pansy (Viola x wittrockiana), with unique, dark-purple flowers that are perfect to display during the Halloween season.

A dark purple pansie with a yellow center

DIY Nature Collection Boxes

Kids can make their own nature collection boxes, special containers to save and organize natural objects found outdoors. They will be invited to decorate their collection boxes with polka dot stamp markers inspired by Yayoi Kusama’s art.

A decorated cardboard container covered in polka dots and filled with pine cones

Explore the Microworld on display outside the Discovery Center

The Microworld allows kids to explore images of plants taken by scientists under a high powered microscope, revealing another world of patterns that compliment Yayoi Kusama’s cosmic works. Visit our pond, its own microworld of aquatic life in the Children’s Garden.