Yoga on the way Home
Why fight the traffic? Slow down and relax in the peaceful beauty of the Arboretum during a one-hour yoga session in the Arboretum's classroom overlooking the forest. $15 per session or $10 per session when registering for a month.

Class: 7 – 9 p.m.

Field Trip: Saturday, April 10 – Participants should contact Bill Eley at 713-366-0379 for details.

Beginning Bird Watching
This introductory class will acquaint participants with the basics of bird watching, including how to find and identify birds, how to select and use binoculars, what homeowners can do to attract birds to their yard, and which birds are found in the different habitats of southeast Texas. Class is open to anyone over the age of 10 and family participation is encouraged. The Saturday field trip will practice identification skills.
Instructor and Arboretum staff member Bill Eley has 30 years of birding experience on the Gulf Coast and all over the world. Cost is $30 for members; $40 for non-members.

Tadpole Troopers: Weird Plants
Tadpole Troopers is a nature class for 3, 4 and 5 year olds with an adult. This spring classes will explore the weird and wild side of nature. April’s class will explore peculiar plants, including plants that eat bugs! $13 for members; $26 for non-members.

Sounds of the Forest Wine & Cheese Night Hike
The night forest pulses with the sounds of melodious songs, clicking calls, flapping wings, and shuffling feet. Frogs, crickets, bats, and other animals are on the move; meeting mates, finding food, and warning others to stay away! Come out and discover which creatures are sounding off, participate in a special frog symphony, and take a night hike into a forest rich in sounds and excitement. After the hike, enjoy wine and cheese while discussing your evening in the woods. All participants will receive a free night forest recording for attending this event. Ages 12 and up, minors must be accompanied by parent. Cost is $18 for members, $30 for non-members.

Saturday, April 10

9 – 10:15 a.m.,
10:45 a.m. – 12 p.m.,
OR 1 – 2:15 p.m.
Ages 3 to 5 with an adult

Tadpole Troopers: Weird Plants
Tadpole Troopers is a nature class for 3, 4 and 5 year olds with an adult. This spring classes will explore the weird and wild side of nature. April’s class will explore peculiar plants, including plants that eat bugs! $13 for members; $26 for non-members.

Naturalist Explorers: Energy Smart
This spring, Naturalist Explorer students will learn to be Eco Kids! In April’s class children will learn the many sources of energy and how to make wise choices, and will make their own solar oven to take home. $15 for members; $30 for non-members.

Backyard Habitat Builder Series: Rain Gardens
Backyard Habitat Workshops are monthly half-day classes teaching simple ways to transform a landscape of any size to attract birds, butterflies, frogs, toads and other beneficial Houston wildlife. Taught by Arboretum Conservation Director Joe Blanton, workshops focus on learning through hands-on projects completed during class, with many including items that participants can take home. In April, learn how rain gardens not only help with water drainage and flooding, but can also be a beautiful water feature to attract birds and other wildlife. Each class is $40 for members or $50 for non-members.

Friday, April 16 & Saturday, April 17

Arboretum Book Sale
Books from the Arboretum’s natural history library will be available for sale, proceeds benefit the Arboretum.

Saturday, April 17

Arboretum’s Earth Day celebrates Wetland Wonders
Crawfish, turtles and other wetland creatures will be the guests of honor at the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center’s annual Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fun activities for the whole family will include: a puzzle hike to visit an Arboretum pond, children’s “Crawfish Crawl” and “Race to Recycle” activities, carnival games, face painting, kids’ zip line, live music, and hayride. Arboretum memberships will be discounted and those joining will enjoy members-only reception area featuring live animals from the Gulf Coast Turtle & Tortoise Society.

Visitors can learn more about greening up their home and garden through composting demonstrations and a native plant sale including wetland plants. Information on the City of Houston’s new yard trimmings guidelines, curbside recycling, and Reuse Warehouse for recycling building materials will be available. Earth Day is sponsored by Waste Management, KUHF, and Twin Oaks Cleaners. Admission to the event is free. Hayride is $2 per person.

Building and grounds closed.

Writers in the Schools (WITS) and the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center partner to present nature writing by Houston students in celebration of Earth Day. The reading is called A Light in the Forest, and it showcases the best work that was created during the year through the WITS Environmental Writing Project. Public is invited. For more information, visit Writers in the Schools Web site. Free event.

1:30- 3:00 p.m.
Ages 5 to 12

Home School Class: Slimy Salamanders
Designed especially for home schoolers, the spring classes will focus on herpetology. In April students will learn about salamanders in our area, including where they live and what they eat. $15 for members; $25 for non-members.

Tadpole Troopers: Weird Plants
Tadpole Troopers is a nature class for 3, 4 and 5 year olds with an adult. This spring classes will explore the weird and wild side of nature. April’s class will explore peculiar plants, including plants that eat bugs! $13 for members; $26 for non-members.

Bugs and Beer
Enjoy Saint Arnold beer and hors d’oeuvres with fellow gardening enthusiasts while learning environmentally friendly ways to manage pest problems and control weeds in the garden and landscape. Betty Heacker, owner of Wabash Antiques & Feed Store and organic gardener, will share how phenology (the coincidence of bloom and insect emergence), pest-resistant plants and the use of "soft" pesticides, such as soaps and oils, can work together to keep plants healthy and discourage pests. Discover methods to manage weeds safely through identification and knowledge of lifecycles, proper herbicide timing and the use of safe herbicide alternatives.

Note: Class will be held at Wabash Antiques & Feed Store, 5701 Washington Ave., 77007

Cost: $25 for members; $30 for non-members

Movie Screening: “What’s On Your Plate?”
Whole Foods Market and the Houston Arboretum will be screening the kid-friendly and educational film “What’s On Your Plate?” under a blanket of stars on the Arboretum grounds. Bring chairs and blankets for seating.

“What's On Your Plate?” is a witty and provocative documentary produced and directed by award-winning Catherine Gund about kids and food politics. Filmed over the course of one year, the film follows two eleven-year-old multi-racial city kids as they explore their place in the food chain. Sadie and Safiyah take a close look at food systems in New York City and its surrounding areas. With the camera as their companion, the girls talk to each other, food activists, farmers, new friends, storekeepers, their families, and the viewer, in their quest to understand what’s on all of our plates. They visit the usual supermarkets, fast food chains, and school lunchrooms. But they also check into innovative sustainable food system practices by going to farms, green markets, and community supported agriculture programs. They discover that these programs both help struggling farmers to survive on the one hand and provide affordable, locally-grown food to communities on the consumer end, especially to lower-income urban families. (2009)

Cost: $8/person admission fee includes small snacks and giveaways; Kids under 12 FREE! 100% of the monies benefit the Houston Arboretum. Note: In case of inclement weather, film will be moved inside Arboretum building.