AdventHealth builds Sensory Garden at B.E. Smith Family Center

The Kyla Y. Hartong Memorial Sensory Garden encourages children of all abilities to experience the sensory aspects of gardening.

For nearly 50 years, the Britain Development program at AdventHealth Shawnee Mission has been helping Kansas City area families through developmental services for kids with a variety of special needs. Educators and therapists continually look for innovative and fun educational opportunities for children in their programs. Their latest tool is a new sensory garden. Thanks to support from generous donors through AdventHealth Foundation Shawnee Mission, the hospital was able to build a beautiful garden on the grounds of the B.E. Smith Family Center, which is located on the AdventHealth Shawnee Mission campus and houses the Britain Development and Early Learning programs.

The Kyla Y. Hartong Memorial Sensory Garden is a beautiful accessible space that encourages children of all abilities to experience the sensory aspects of gardening such as touching the dirt and plants, smelling the herbs, hearing the water land as it’s poured, and tasting fruits and vegetables. The garden includes a wheelchair accessible garden bed handcrafted by Raymond LaRocque of Accessible Gardens in Rhode Island. LaRocque refused to let his need for a wheelchair deprive him of his passion for gardening. The space also features a vine house where kids can relax, wooden activity tables for snacks, art and science projects, a music area, a climbing structure for motor exploration, as well as a mud kitchen with water tables.