At Grant’s Farm, visitors can travel past bison, feed goats, and meet animals from around the world. Now, the attraction is encouraging families to slow down and discover something a little closer to home. A new Nature Exploration Area, unveiled this week in the Tiergarten, introduces visitors to the plants, pollinators, birds, and ecosystems that make up Missouri’s natural landscape. The free attraction combines play, education, and hands-on discovery in a space designed to help children understand the wildlife and habitats they might encounter in their own backyards.
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“It’s an added experience that ties conservation, heritage, native plants, pollinators, insects, and birds together,” says Tara Sondag, director of marketing and events at Grant’s Farm.
Located beneath a sprawling oak tree near the heart of the Tiergarten, the new space features winding pathways, native plantings, tunnels to crawl through and explore, picnic tables, and educational stations that encourage children to engage with nature through play.
“It’s a really great space for families to just relax and create their own memories,” Sondag says.
A closer look at Missouri’s ecosystems
While the area offers plenty of room for children to run, climb, and explore, it’s also designed to teach.
Interpretive stations introduce families to Missouri’s native bird habitats, prairie grasslands, rain gardens, rock glades, and pollinators. Along the way, children can learn how native plants provide food and shelter for wildlife, how prairie grasses help prevent erosion with their deep root systems, and how rain gardens naturally filter stormwater before it reaches local rivers and streams.
One station highlights the many creatures that help gardens grow, including bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, beetles, and moths. Another explores Missouri’s native bird habitats and encourages visitors to look closely for the wildlife living among the plants.
The goal, Sondag says, is to help children understand how all of those elements work together as part of a larger ecosystem.
“We really value enrichment. We value education, and we really value creating experiences that expose people to nature and let them experience nature while they’re having fun at Grant’s Farm,” she says.
Why pollinators matter
Pollinators play a starring role throughout the new space. As families move through the exploration area, they’ll learn how bees collect pollen and nectar, how butterflies and hummingbirds help plants reproduce, and why native flowers are critical to supporting healthy ecosystems.
The lessons extend beyond the exhibit itself. Grant’s Farm maintains active bee colonies near the historic Hardscrabble Cabin and hosts an annual honey extraction demonstration each August. Last year, visitors were even able to purchase honey harvested from the farm’s own hives.
The program serves as another example of how the attraction hopes to connect visitors with conservation efforts happening right here in St. Louis.
More than a playground
For Sondag, the new addition arrives at a time when many families are searching for ways to get children outdoors and away from screens.
Grant’s Farm has always offered opportunities to interact with animals and experience a working farm environment, she explains. The Nature Exploration Area adds another layer, giving children a place to slow down, observe, and explore the natural world around them.
“I think people will be surprised by how relaxing it is,” Sondag says. “It’s just an added space where you can enjoy being outside and let kids enjoy nature.”
She hopes that families leave with more than just memories. Whether that means planting native flowers, supporting pollinators, noticing birds in their neighborhood, or simply spending more time outdoors together, the goal is the same: helping children see that nature isn’t somewhere far away—it’s here in Missouri, sometimes right beneath their feet.
