The Sensational Sofia’s Play Garden at Lauritzen Gardens!

Ever wanted to explore an OUTDOOR children’s museum? You (and your kiddos/grandkids) can certainly do that at Sofia’s Play Garden at Lauritzen Gardens! It is a lovely and magical place for ALL ages, not just for kids. Heck, when I attended on Grand Opening weekend in May, I wanted to play and explore!

Sofia’s Play Garden is a brand new garden within a garden at Lauritzen Gardens. It is located just outside the back entrance of the main building and is way bigger than it looks! Within the play garden are more than 10 areas to explore. Wow! I’m not sure how they packed it all in this space, but the design and variety of activities is amazing! Sofia’s Play Garden includes areas such as both an indoor and outdoor classroom, a series of tree houses, a lookout over the Missouri River, a free little library with areas to read, a puppet theater, a lawn-mowing space, spider-web netting to play on, a labyrinth, a building area, a water play area, plus many fun plants and flowers to explore! There are lots of places to sit for both young and older. My jaw literally dropped around every corner!

While Sofia’s Play Garden has slightly shortened hours from the regular garden, there are so many things to do you could spend your whole day here! Keep in mind, though, there are activities for kids all over the garden! You can search for numerous, amazing topiaries throughout the garden and there is still a children’s area at the back of the garden too. There is even a printed scavenger hunt for the topiaries!

There is a reason Lauritzen Gardens won Omaha’s Best Attraction award for this year. The improvements made at the gardens, plus Sofia’s Play Garden knocks it out of the park for all, and especially for families. We are so lucky to have this beautiful place with more than 20 gardens within the larger garden in our own backyard, so to speak! The Gardens also offers drop in activities like storytime (in cooperation with the Omaha Public Library), drop-in craft projects, and super fun paid classes to register for. There is ALWAYS something to see and do and learn about here!

Below are some photos of Sophia’s Play Garden and the garden topiaries that I took in May. It is sure to inspire everyone to be a learner and a gardener and play like a kid again! 😁