Countywide : ‘Sensory Garden’ Delights the Blind
They heard the water gurgle and headed cautiously toward the sound. Once they splashed their tiny hands in the cool water, the youngsters of The Blind Children’s Learning Center would not budge from the bubbling fountain turned on for the first time Wednesday morning in their recently designed “sensory garden.”
“The water goes up and down, up and down,” hummed a 5-year-old boy as he sliced the cascading water with his hand. “Oooh, it’s cold . . . makes me freeze more.”
Funded by the PacifiCare Foundation, the 24-foot by 24-foot garden was completed in February with the help of more than 200 volunteers and the assistance of some of the center’s visually impaired children. The garden, adjacent to the center’s playground, includes four gravel walkways, the fountain, plants, herbs and flowers with varying fragrances and textures.
The center hosts 49 blind and partially sighted children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years. They attend the preschool with siblings and employees of the center, who can see.
“We go from the premise that even though nothing can take the place of vision, you can enhance the other modalities,” said Executive Director Gabrielle Hass. “You can certainly make it so the children can experience the world to the fullest.”
The garden may be the only one of its kind in an Orange County preschool.
“I’ve heard of sensory gardens before, but I don’t know of any other center for blind children that has one,” said Lynn Morgan, the center’s director of community services.
“This sensory garden is good for them to experience so they know where plants come from, so they know that they don’t come from the grocery store,” said one of the teachers, Susan Everson.
The garden includes gardenias, oregano, thyme, garlic, rosemary, mint and lavender chosen for their strong scents. To teach the children about different textures, the garden includes the prickly asparagus fern and the smooth coprosma, otherwise known as the mirror plant.
“The children will know the spices when their mothers say they have oregano or thyme in their soup, and they’ll know it because it’s in our garden,” said Zetta Oswald, one of the volunteers from the nearby Peace Lutheran Church, who will weed and maintain the garden.
