The city’s botanical gardens invite the public to explore their 28-hectare expanse, free of charge, all year long. Visitors can partake in informative guided tours to deepen their understanding of the botanical world, or engage in workshops and activities thoughtfully designed for children.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s herbarium, compiled in the 1770s for the printer-bookseller Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, is presented through preserved pressed specimens, its original catalogue and related botanical publications. The historical collection combines scientific observation and aesthetic arrangement, revealing Enlightenment approaches to collecting, classification and the popularisation of plant study. Detailed notes and annotations illuminate Rousseau’s techniques and the materiality of specimens, inviting reflection on how personal curiosity and scholarly networks shaped early modern natural history.
This workshop explores the traditional process of assembling a herbarium specimen, inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s collections. Participants learn scientific techniques for pressing and mounting dried plants on old paper, practice botanical labelling and nomenclature, and select specimens to create a personal herbarium sheet. The session examines preservation methods, identification principles and the historical context of Rousseau’s approach, combining practical skills with scientific insight to produce a lasting botanical object.
In French.
This interactive memory challenge invites participants to test their memory while exploring practical ways to preserve biodiversity based on Geneva’s municipal strategy. Players match “before-and-after” images that illustrate individual and institutional actions, and each correct pair reveals concise information explaining the measure. The activity examines themes such as habitat restoration, species-friendly practices, urban greening and policy responses, helping participants understand the impact and rationale behind everyday and organisational conservation choices.
Explore prickly shapes and soft folds as you meet succulents and cacti. Look closely at spines, thick leaves and funny silhouettes, and discover how these plants store water. Take part in hands-on investigations with simple observations, drawing and gentle care tips. Hear the scratch of dry leaves, feel cool potting soil, and compare lookalike plants to understand what makes a cactus a cactus. Become a little succulent expert with a gardener’s help.
In French. Kids ages 6 and up.
This educational escape game explores historical botany and applied pharmacognosy through immersive problem-solving. Players investigate archival clues, chemical properties and traditional remedies to identify a medicinal plant referenced in a 1715 letter and assess its potential against malaria. The experience emphasizes observation, hypothesis testing and collaborative analysis, revealing how historical knowledge and botanical methods contribute to modern drug discovery and public health thinking.
In French.
Explore the world of ferns and how they lived long before people. Touch soft fronds, spot delicate patterns, and listen to the whisper of leaves as you learn how these plants grow without flowers or seeds. Investigate tiny and giant varieties, compare shapes, and collect colors and textures. Finish by making a bright, hands-on craft that captures what you observed, using paint, paper and natural shapes to bring your discovery to life.
In French. Kids ages 6 and up.
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