Several youngsters are experiencing a unique art camp at the Botanical Gardens.

The Growing Artist Workshops is a summer programme and is a collaborative effort with The Masterworks Foundation and The Botanical Society to offer children both botany and art experiences in week-long sessions, said Masterworks education officer Carrie Zenti.

The workshops are for children aged five to 12 involved in art and botany activities here in the Botanical Gardens, she said.

"We partner with Government and the Botanical Society for staff. We will see roughly 250 kids over July and August and there is an Open House on August 5 at 2 p.m.

Mrs. Zenti said the programme was in its second year, but separate camps had been run in the past.

"It seems to suit all involved students, staff and organisations," she said.

"It is offered to a range of children with an age group breakdown per week. We have just finished three weeks in July and have three more weeks in August.

"Even though it is our first year of offering workshops for five and six year olds we have had much success and response. Students attend all day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and do half-day art and half-day botany activities."

Some of the activities that the students are involved with are hands-on gardening, planting and learning about plants and how to care for them. "Older kids have had field trips to explore Paget Marsh, The Arboretum, Gibbons Gardens and Brighton Nursery," she said.

New York Botanical Garden School of Botany student Neville Richardson is the botany instructor.

He said it was great to be able to pass the love of botony onto the youngsters.

"We are covering all the basics ... like seed development, the life process of living plants, how fruits develop from flowers and how to use garden tools safely," he said.

"They learn how important plants are in daily life. Some are pretty keen and some are amazed."

On the arts side the students have been involved with exploring various techniques and materials in art-making activities such as drawing, painting and printmaking.

"We have focused on projects tying in subjects of all things botanical: plants, creatures of the garden, using natural materials found on site and designing their own 'Growing Artist T-shirt'," she said.

"There are also fun activities such as body painting and beading. Students will also explore papermaking in select August sessions."

When The Royal Gazette visited, the five and six year olds were on a nature walk collecting items for a natural mosaic sculpture. Some visited the Sensory Garden for the blind and they were told to collect leaves, twigs, empty snail shells and stones.

"The most important thing is that if it is something mushy or something that will spoil overnight then we don't want to put it in our bags," she told the children.

"The Sensory Garden has a lot of fragrant plants, so if you get close to them you can smell them."

They collected bits and pieces while another group worked with Mr. Darrell in the Kitchen Garden.