University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

North Carolina Botanical Gardens “Healing and Hope through Science” program will partner with NCSU College of Design to design and create a hands-on, interactive, miniature nature exhibit called the Plant Play Pushcart. This greenhouse-garden-on-wheels will provide a bedside field trip for hospitalized children at UNC Hospital that will be, experiential, multisensory, and safe. It will enable children to work with live plant materials without danger of infection by using a sealed greenhouse-type structure. Interacting with the Hands-on Plant Play Pushcart will increase enjoyment and positive distraction, decrease perception of pain, and provide environmental education to hospitalized children who are typically denied the healing effects that nature experiences can produce.