Get Started
To earn your badge, choose any activity or combination of activities. When you’re done, click on the “Claim Badge” button below and complete the brief form. You’ll also be entered into Summer Camp raffles for a chance to win a prize!
Reading Suggestions
All reading counts! But if you’d like to get into a book related to this week’s badge, here’s what we recommend:
Children
- Gardening books for kids on Hoopla
Teens
- Gardening nonfiction on cloudLibrary and Hoopla
Adults
- “Books in Bloom” fiction on OverDrive / Libby
Online Event
Streaming Storytime • ages 0–5
Miss Julia presents storytime fun about gardening!
Watch on demand on Facebook (no account needed)
Miss Julia presents storytime fun about gardening!
Watch on demand on Facebook (no account needed)
Offline Adventure
Chicago Botanic Garden • all ages
Experience one of the world's great living museums and conservation science centers. Tour 27 gardens and four natural areas, situated on 385 acres on and around nine islands, with six miles of shoreline.
Experience one of the world's great living museums and conservation science centers. Tour 27 gardens and four natural areas, situated on 385 acres on and around nine islands, with six miles of shoreline.
1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe
- Pre-register for timed entry (required)
- Use your library card to get a Museum Adventure Pass offering 50% off parking for one car. (The garden charges for parking; admission is free.)
Screen-Free Activities
Color Garden Scenes • all ages
Get out your crayons, markers, or colored pencils and try your hand at coloring pages created by the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.
Coloring page (PDF to print)
16-page coloring book (PDF to print)
Get out your crayons, markers, or colored pencils and try your hand at coloring pages created by the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.
Coloring page (PDF to print)
16-page coloring book (PDF to print)
Volunteer in the Library Garden • all ages
Sign up to care for the Vernon Area Library Garden for one week during the growing season. Volunteer as an individual, with a friend, or as a family or small group. Cleaned materials and instructions are at the garden. If your preferred date has already been claimed, please sign up on the waiting list; backups are needed!
Sign up
Sign up to care for the Vernon Area Library Garden for one week during the growing season. Volunteer as an individual, with a friend, or as a family or small group. Cleaned materials and instructions are at the garden. If your preferred date has already been claimed, please sign up on the waiting list; backups are needed!
Sign up
Do Some Good!
If gardening brings to mind the culinary delights of summer, then take this opportunity to give fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs, and other foodstuffs to neighbors in need.
Drop off fresh (or frozen) produce at the Vernon Township Food Pantry, Monday–Friday, 9 AM–4 PM, at 3050 N. Main St., Buffalo Grove.
Drop off fresh (or frozen) produce at the Vernon Township Food Pantry, Monday–Friday, 9 AM–4 PM, at 3050 N. Main St., Buffalo Grove.
Donate online to the Northern Illinois Food Bank, which helps supply the Township Food Pantry. Every $1 donation allows the Food Bank to purchase $8 in food.
"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." --Audrey Hepburn
CLAIM YOUR BADGE
Submit your activities to receive a badge and enter the raffle. Complete one form for each participant.
Print a Tracking sheet
Download a printable PDF to help keep track of the badges you've earned.