Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden Winter Events

Details

Want to hang out in a tropical garden over winter break or all winter long? Volunteer opportunities are available for those age 14 or older at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden. These roles help to develop skills working with the public, teaching basic information about the world of plants and/or working with children. Volunteers can sign up for one or multiple shifts.

Walk-In Activity Support: These activities are available for guests to pre-pay to participate or walk-in and pay a small fee for a take home activity. Volunteers welcome and help direct participants to materials, share instructions / answer questions and keep things tidy. The activities themselves are primarily self-guided and instructions are provided to participants to review as well. These take place in the Kemin Plant Sciences Lab.

  • Saturday, December 11 from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. One volunteer position still available with the Evergreen Swag Making Walk-In.
  • December 27 – 31 from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (30 min. lunchbreak) Jurassic Terrariums

Camp Assistant: These are full day camps and volunteers can assist full or half days. Help staff and have fun with ARTrageous!, Mad Scientists or Jungle Safari! Camp Volunteers provide support to staff and assist with activities, provide guidance to campers as needed, help to prep activities and/or with clean-up. This is a great way to test out this role and introduce yourself to staff if you think you might be interested in volunteering as a Summer Camp Assistant.

  • December 28 – 29 from 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and/or 12:00–4:30 p.m.

Pop-Up Program Leader: Four different activities will be offered daily for guests to see, do and/or learn from. Guests typically stop by for several minutes at a time based on the activity. Each one is fairly simple and volunteers need no pre-training. Talking points will be provided by email and staff will review them in person with each volunteer.

  • December 27 – 31 from 10:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. and/or 1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Dome After Dark – Guests relax in a beautiful environment and enjoy the winter light display. Volunteers provide assistance to event staff, help as needed during the event and walk through the event areas looking for any debris or concerns with the lights or train display.

  • Friday evenings from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. through February

Admission Desk & Garden Shop: Help guests with admission and Garden Shop sales. Training is provided. Other daytime and weekend shifts are available for those who are interested. This role is great for those who like to help others. It provides the opportunity to help guests get off to a great start with their visit, share information about the Botanical Garden and help with purchases. Scheduling is flexible for weekend shifts but should be often enough to retain skills for the role. Those who would like to learn more about this position are welcome to schedule a time to shadow prior to training. For more information about this role, please contact volunteer@dmbotanicalgarden.com .

If you are interested in volunteering or learning more, please email: volunteer@dmbotanicalgarden.com with your interest and provide all contact information OR fill out an application and mention specific activities that you are interested in. You can find the application at https://www.dmbotanicalgarden.com/support/volunteer/. If you contact us, please watch your email for our reply. We will be happy to have you volunteer if we can reach you!

More Information/Sign Up