photo by: LiveWell Douglas County

Several volunteers gathered to help start a children's sensory garden at Bluejacket Park in Eudora.

A special garden space allowing young gardeners to explore through the five senses is being developed at Bluejacket Park in Eudora.

The garden is an outdoor area designated to stimulate a child’s five senses: sight, smell, touch, taste and sound. These types of gardens often include plants with a variety of textures, scents and colors, along with elements like wind chimes, water features and seating areas to enhance the sensory experience.

LiveWell Douglas County has partnered with Eudora Parks and Recreation, Douglas County Master Gardeners and Eudora schools to put one of these gardens at Eudora’s Bluejacket Park, which is in the backyard of the Eudora Early Learning Center. Ginny Barnard, executive director of LiveWell Douglas County, said the Parks and Recreation department has made the space available because they have been wanting to build a garden like this in the park for the students at the nearby school.

photo by: LiveWell Douglas County

LiveWell Douglas County along with Eudora Parks and Recreation, Eudora schools and Douglas County Master Gardeners are partnering to create a children’s sensory garden at Bluejacket Park in Eudora.

“They wanted to have an opportunity for kids to be able to plant things and interact with nature,” Barnard said. “And then, at the same time, the National Honor Society at the high school were looking for some volunteer opportunities, and so they were interested in helping support the project as well.”

Douglas County Master Gardeners have also contributed to the design of the garden and providing input on what plants would be good to include. In addition, they will also provide support on how to care for the plants in the space.

“They went and toured some different garden areas around Douglas County or Lawrence to sort of see what their gardens looked like and what plants they had available that would meet all the different criteria, (including) different colors and textures,” Barnard said. “So they put together this master list of the plants they recommended.”

Barnard said the garden will have a native plant section and those plants will be arriving at the end of the month. There will also be a raised planting bed for the preschoolers and high school students to work together to plant an herb section and smaller vegetable section. Additionally, the garden will also have an annual flower section along with other things that are easy to plant for the season.

To help jumpstart the project, LiveWell Douglas County has received $500 through the Douglas County Community Foundation Giving for Good campaign, which is an annual fundraising initiative, primarily during the holiday season, that supports local nonprofit organizations in Douglas County. In addition, Barnard said around $2,000 have been donated by several community partners.

“We’ll continue to look for different funding support after the garden gets built to support the general maintenance, and hopefully, we can get a small fund set up to help provide some of those yearly costs to support the garden,” Barnard said.

Volunteers first gathered at Bluejacket Park to help with the project on April 26, where they worked to remove grass and get one of the garden beds constructed.

photo by: LiveWell Douglas County

Several volunteers gathered to help start a children’s sensory garden at Bluejacket Park in Eudora.

“It’s literally starting from scratch,” Barnard said. ” … The first work day was a lot of removing the grass from the different paths and the garden beds where things are going to be put in … it was definitely hard work getting that grass out of there.”

Barnard said this is phase one of the project, and by the early summer, the first five garden beds will be ready for planting. Preschool students will be able to help plant in the garden and enjoy it over the summertime. Barnard added that she’s waiting to hear back on additional grant funding and donations before beginning the second phase.

“(This) would be adding on to that space and putting in some of the more special features, so benches, the different wind chimes or things that make noises, so some of those things that cost a little bit more hopefully will come in phase two, which probably won’t happen until next summer of 2026,” Barnard said.

Barnard said community members have been great about donating and bringing their own tools and supplies to keep costs down on the project. The next workday – which is open to the public – is scheduled for Saturday, May 10, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at Bluejacket Park, 1200 Cedar St., in Eudora. Volunteers can sign up here.

photo by: Contributed

The design of the sensory garden at Bluejacket Park in Eudora.