The Gem of Access to Learning, Growing, Reading, Exploring and Playing...

Located on a little over 6 acres of land representative of Arkansas ecosystems lies a relatively new special educational gem. It is part of  an initiative of  the Central Arkansas Library system, the  Hillary Rodham Clinton Children’s Library and Learning Center located south of  the Zoo in the War Memorial area in Little Rock, Arkansas.

A 1500 square foot greenhouse is home to a myriad of plants and seedlings which will be added to the acreage’s land-scape, teaching gardens and raised beds. 

There are paths that circumference the library building with labeled trees and plants with bog areas, native plants and an amphitheater. 

The library's kid garden club not only grows plants from seeds but also learns which plants attract bees and butterflies.








In fact the day my brother and I visited, the club was going to be planting milkweed, a native plant to attract more butterflies.

The award winning 30,000 sq ft architectural building houses the children’s library. Within its walls lies a 165 seat theater, a teaching kitchen with classroom space in addition to a large computer capacity.

There are culinary arts, eco literacy, theater arts and over 20,000 books, dvds, cds and other materials. 

Through every wall of the library are views of the surrounding ecosystems. 









Inside its walls there's whimsy and materials which cater to toddlers, elementary and middle school ages. 

Besides a media resource person, 2 gardeners are on staff to help with the garden programming. Future dreams include having a full time gardener for outside. Low maintenance still means maintenance and there are a lot of grounds.

 After perusing this month’s and next month’s calendars, it’s obvious the center is truly for cooking, reading, playing, learning and growing.



Mornings for the ‘littles’ include Baby and Toddler/ Preschool Story times, Music and Movement and Free Play.



Afternoons for older kids includes :
Kids in the Kitchen, Snack attacks, Kidstock: Crafternoon( button making, nature wreaths) Improv Acting, Book to Scene, Talent Show, Martial Arts, The Studio, Music Viedeo Making, Learn Drumming with a Pro, music crafts, yoga, bubbles , tree painting and Halloween Art besides of course, garden club….

Saturday programming includes  all ages:
September: Children’s Theater (Go Dog Go), Messy Art Studio, Cheerleading Clinic, Arkansas Symphony: Demo and Petting Zoo, Stories you can eat , Haiku Harvest, haikus , sculpture ground work and Tail Waggin Tutors.
October: Fall Veggie Planting, Children’s theater “Pinocchio”, Weird Science: Talk with Mortuary Scientist and Tail Waggin' Tutors

As you can see this place really is something special. I couldn't be happier as to its controversial location in a low income neighborhood, accessible to a population sometimes ignored, yet also available to all residents within central Arkansas. This is truly a hands-on place.

                                            What a gem!

Here's a link to their website for hours and more info:
Children's Library