Vatican Museums has introduced a new family-friendly excursion through the papal gardens, an experience designed to teach children how to “contemplate and appreciate nature”. Source: CNA.
Whether skipping down a tree-lined path, sitting on a tree stump, or spotting turtles in a fountain, children and their families now have the chance to encounter the Vatican Gardens in a way tailored to capture the attention of some of its youngest visitors.
“There was a desire to give families something to actually do together in the museum. There’s such a wealth of possibilities. And so we wanted to, for the first time, dedicate an actual tour to families,” Sr Emanuela Edwards of the Missionaries of Divine Revelation said.
Sr Edwards, who designed the tour as part of her role heading the Vatican Museums’ office of educational activities, said one of the first activities on the walk is to listen to the sounds of nature in the English Garden.
“We start by identifying all the different sounds from the natural world,” she said. “But of course, what can be more joyful and more natural than to hear children laughing and enjoying themselves as well? And so to the natural world, we also add this wonderful and essential human element, which is the joy of being together in the family.”
The roughly two-hour “Capture Nature” tour is currently offered on Saturday mornings in English and Italian to groups of about 20 people. It is fully accessible to children with intellectual or physical disabilities.
Sr Edwards said the tour also takes some of its inspiration from Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical Laudato Si’.
“A few steps away there’s the Vatican Museums, where there are the masterpieces of art,” she said. “But in the garden, we’re able to teach the young children that the trees are also the masterpieces of the garden. And so they learn how to care for those masterpieces as well.”
FULL STORY
New Vatican Gardens tour invites families to explore God’s natural ‘masterpieces’ (By Hannah Brockhaus, CNA)
