Events Calendar

2025 Winter/Spring Session (Oct 1 - Dec 17): Wednesdays, 10:00 am-11:00 am
For children ages 1–3 and their caregivers

Wednesdays in the Garden offers a nurturing and joyful space for our youngest learners to explore, play, and grow. Together with their caregivers, children will discover the wonders of the natural world and Lynden’s unique sculpture collection through hands-on experiences that spark curiosity, wonder, and creativity.

Early childhood educators Claudia Orjuela and Denice Niebuhr will guide families through sensory-rich activities, outdoor adventures, and open-ended artmaking. Each week highlights a new theme, connecting children’s natural interests with the world around them.

Research from the National Association for the Education of Young Children shows that time outdoors supports healthier bodies, stronger minds, better sleep, and important social and emotional growth. At Lynden, we nurture these benefits by encouraging children to experiment with natural and artistic materials, tell stories, solve problems, and build relationships—all while having fun!

Fee: $16/$12 members for one adult and one child.
Registration: Group size is limited; advance registration is required. Register online now. In the event of inclement weather, sessions move indoors.

To view a list of the session themes, click here.

Lynden’s Art + Nature Lab for ages 7-11 is a dynamic studio experience where creativity flourishes through choice, exploration, and personal expression. This student-driven program encourages participants to work as artists—selecting their own subjects, materials, and approaches while developing confidence in their creative process. With access to a wide variety of tools and media, participants experiment, problem-solve, and refine their ideas into works of art while sharing inspiration, taking creative risks, and growing together in a supportive art community.

Registration: Group size is limited; advance registration required.

Fall 2025 Session I: (7 weeks) Thursdays, September 11- October 23, 2025 | 3:30pm – 5:30pm | $154/$112 members per 7-week session. Register online now.

Fall 2025 Session II: (7 weeks) Thursdays, October 30-December 18 , 2025 (no class 11/27) | 3:30pm – 5:30pm | $154/$112 members per 7-week session. Register online now.

2025 Winter/Spring Session (Oct 1 - Dec 17): Wednesdays, 10:00 am-11:00 am
For children ages 1–3 and their caregivers

Wednesdays in the Garden offers a nurturing and joyful space for our youngest learners to explore, play, and grow. Together with their caregivers, children will discover the wonders of the natural world and Lynden’s unique sculpture collection through hands-on experiences that spark curiosity, wonder, and creativity.

Early childhood educators Claudia Orjuela and Denice Niebuhr will guide families through sensory-rich activities, outdoor adventures, and open-ended artmaking. Each week highlights a new theme, connecting children’s natural interests with the world around them.

Research from the National Association for the Education of Young Children shows that time outdoors supports healthier bodies, stronger minds, better sleep, and important social and emotional growth. At Lynden, we nurture these benefits by encouraging children to experiment with natural and artistic materials, tell stories, solve problems, and build relationships—all while having fun!

Fee: $16/$12 members for one adult and one child.
Registration: Group size is limited; advance registration is required. Register online now. In the event of inclement weather, sessions move indoors.

To view a list of the session themes, click here.

Lynden’s Art + Nature Lab for ages 7-11 is a dynamic studio experience where creativity flourishes through choice, exploration, and personal expression. This student-driven program encourages participants to work as artists—selecting their own subjects, materials, and approaches while developing confidence in their creative process. With access to a wide variety of tools and media, participants experiment, problem-solve, and refine their ideas into works of art while sharing inspiration, taking creative risks, and growing together in a supportive art community.

Registration: Group size is limited; advance registration required.

Fall 2025 Session I: (7 weeks) Thursdays, September 11- October 23, 2025 | 3:30pm – 5:30pm | $154/$112 members per 7-week session. Register online now.

Fall 2025 Session II: (7 weeks) Thursdays, October 30-December 18 , 2025 (no class 11/27) | 3:30pm – 5:30pm | $154/$112 members per 7-week session. Register online now.

From September through December, we will be offering monthly drop-in workshops for families. Stop by for engaging, hands-on activities that bring art and nature to life. Whether you make a quick visit or stay the entire two hours, count on spending some quality creative time with family and friends.

Fee: $15/$10 members per session per family (all materials included). All ages are welcome; children younger than 12 should attend with an adult.
Registration: Click here to register online.

Sunday, September 28, 2025, 12:30-2:30 pm
Polymer Clay Creations: Craft Your Own Pins
Design and sculpt your own colorful pins using polymer clay. Learn simple techniques for shaping, texturing, and blending colors to craft unique pieces that can be worn as accessories.

Sunday, October 19, 2025, 12:30-2:30 pm
Collecting and Printing with Leaves – Exploring Nature Through Art
Celebrate the beauty of autumn by gathering leaves from Lynden and using them to create nature-inspired prints. Experiment with different printing techniques, layering textures and colors to design a unique print for a friend or loved one.

Sunday, November 16, 2025, 12:30-2:30 pm
Quitapesares – Crafting Worry Dolls from a Guatemalan Tradition
Discover the tradition of Quitapesares (Worry Dolls), small, handcrafted figures originating from Guatemala and other parts of Central America. These tiny dolls are believed to carry worries away when placed under a pillow before bedtime. Participants will explore their cultural significance and create their own unique worry dolls, using fabric, thread, and more.

Sunday, December 14, 2025, 12:30-2:30 pm
Handmade Holiday Cards – Created using Collage and Natural Pigments
Design a holiday card using natural pigments and collage techniques. Experiment with colors extracted from plants and vegetables to create rich, earthy hues and layered textures. Use collage techniques to personalize your design, arranging shapes and patterns to craft a unique card for a loved one.

2025 Winter/Spring Session (Oct 1 - Dec 17): Wednesdays, 10:00 am-11:00 am
For children ages 1–3 and their caregivers

Wednesdays in the Garden offers a nurturing and joyful space for our youngest learners to explore, play, and grow. Together with their caregivers, children will discover the wonders of the natural world and Lynden’s unique sculpture collection through hands-on experiences that spark curiosity, wonder, and creativity.

Early childhood educators Claudia Orjuela and Denice Niebuhr will guide families through sensory-rich activities, outdoor adventures, and open-ended artmaking. Each week highlights a new theme, connecting children’s natural interests with the world around them.

Research from the National Association for the Education of Young Children shows that time outdoors supports healthier bodies, stronger minds, better sleep, and important social and emotional growth. At Lynden, we nurture these benefits by encouraging children to experiment with natural and artistic materials, tell stories, solve problems, and build relationships—all while having fun!

Fee: $16/$12 members for one adult and one child.
Registration: Group size is limited; advance registration is required. Register online now. In the event of inclement weather, sessions move indoors.

To view a list of the session themes, click here.

FREE
This is a virtual event.
Watch live on our Facebook page.

Stories As We Move: A HOME Interview Series is an ongoing project that launched in 2020 as part of Lynden's HOME virtual platform. The series pairs individuals who have faced forced displacement in its many forms in a conversational setting. Refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants interview those that have resettled to the United States, including friends and family that are based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as those that remain overseas. The series covers a range of backgrounds and narrative identities, professions, and interests; participants include artists, community members, advocates and leaders, healthcare workers, caseworkers, interpreters, and students and educators. These interviews are reflections of relationships and conversations that we continue to have long after resettlement; they explore issues that our refugee friends and family members continue to face as they remain in their country of origin or interim country.

Fee: Free.
Registration: This discussion takes place via Zoom; advance registration required. Click here to register. Click here to see all individual dates.

The Lynden/HOME Refugee Steering Committee book discussion group, moderated by Lynden’s Kim Khaira, is for those interested in firsthand accounts of displacement. We consider works of non-fiction and fiction, including autobiographical and semi-autobiographical works, by writers who have faced or are facing forced displacement as refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants. Where stories of persecution, historical trauma, and loss of livelihood are effortlessly conveyed by storytellers, journalists, and humanitarians who search out or stumble upon the lives of refugees, we seek out the words of those to whom these stories belong: the narrators who are the closest to their own stories, and the stories of their people, friends, family and, of course, refugees. Newcomers always welcome!

October 2024-January 2025: My American Dream: A Journey from Fascism to Freedom by Barbara Sommer Feigin. Through the posthumous discovery of her father's secret journal, Feigin is able to begin her chronological story with her parents’ escape from Nazi Germany. Only a toddler at the time of their departure, Feigin pieces together her family’s early history. She then shifts to her own story, a tale of growing up in America and her subsequent struggles as she embarked on a corporate career in New York City in the 1960s, rising to become a top executive in the advertising field.

February 2025-April 2025: Aednan: An Epic, by Linnea Axelsson. This novel-in-verse by a Sámi-Swedish writer was originally published in Swedish and Northern Sámi in 2018, with the English translation following in 2024. Axelsson's “stories within stories” discuss the loss of land of Indigenous Sàmi people from northern Scandinavia and the cultural displacement that crosses generations and borders.

May 2025-August 2025: Solito, by Javier Zamora. This new memoir, Solito, narrates the immigration story of Zamora in 1999 when he was a nine-year-old child travelling from La Herradura, El Salvador, through Guatemala, Mexico, and the Sonoran Desert to be reunited with his parents in the US.

September 2025-December 2025: Bolla, by Kosovo-born Albanian Finish novelist Pajtim Statovci. Bolla is a fictional story detailing the love affair between an Albanian writer and a Serbian medical student in the midst of war and displacement.

Fee: Free.
Registration: Advance registration encouraged. Click here to register online. Work days are weather dependent. If you have registered in advance, we will contact you if we are cancelling due to inclement weather.

The Lynden land team is kicking off 2025 by launching a new series of Wednesday Work Days, a weekly volunteer opportunity on the grounds. Whether you are looking for a few hours of volunteer work or want a weekly activity that keeps you outside, you are welcome to join us on Wednesday mornings from 10 am to 12 noon. Projects vary from season to season; for the next few months, you will work alongside land staff to pull herbaceous invasive species in our natural areas, as well as help accomplish other projects around the grounds to enhance biodiversity and take care of the native flora and fauna. No experience is necessary, though you are encouraged to bring your favorite gardening gloves and digging tools if you have them. Water, snacks, and additional tools will be provided.

Land Stewardship at Lynden
The Lynden Sculpture Garden is transforming its natural habitats and formal landscapes into sustainable and diverse ecosystems that highlight their natural beauty. Our goal is to steward healthy habitats for an array of native plants and wildlife while adding a vibrant mosaic of color and texture to this sculptural landscape through every season. With over 40 acres and more than half a dozen specialized garden spaces, the Lynden provides many volunteer and learning opportunities, from removing invasive species to planting new trees and plugs, weeding, pruning, collecting, and spreading seeds. With a small land staff, volunteer help is essential to the evolution and restoration of the Lynden grounds.

You may also like:
The Ecology and Management of Invasive Species
Garden Work Days 2025