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Easter at Kew Gardens - Saturday 31 March to Sunday 15 April
Buy tickets to the Gardens | What's going on at Kew Gardens this Easter
Cocoa tree, chilli pepper, allspice and vanilla
Learn more about these plants that are still popular today.
Make and do at home
Have a go at making something inspired by the ancient Maya in your own home:
- Try our chocolate recipes
- Make masks and worry dolls
- How to do origami

Maya chocolate adventure trail

This event has ended. See current and upcoming events at Kew Gardens.

An exciting Maya chocolate adventure awaits you this Easter at Kew Gardens. Embark on our interactive adventure trail to solve a puzzle. Along the way, take part in fun activities and discover the story behind the ingredients used by the ancient Maya in their special chocolate drink.

Pick up a trail card at any gate. Collect crayon rubbings of all the Mayan symbols around the trail to solve the puzzle and gain your entry into the botanist base camp on Kew Palace lawn, where you can take part in a variety of Maya craft activities.

Leave a wish on the cacao tree

Add your wish to our cacao wishing tree and help us create a beautiful piece of art

Cacao tree in the Princess of Wales Conservatory

Date: Sat 31 March - Sun 15 April
Time: 10.30am – 4pm daily (3.45pm close on Wed 4 April)
Location: Princess of Wales Conservatory Film Room

You can see Kew's best example of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) in the Princess of Wales Conservatory, and we're inviting visitors to help us recreate it as a cacao wishing tree.

Contribute to an evolving sculpture by adding a paper leaf to the bare branches. See the tree come to life over time as more and more leaves are added. Each paper creation will have space for you to write a wish.

Find out more about the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao)

Climbers and Creepers

As you journey around the Gardens make sure you visit Climbers and Creepers for chocolate making workshops and face painting.

Chocolate making workshops
Get messy making something delicious out of chocolate in the Munch Box, next to Climbers and Creepers.

See the chocolatey details

Face painting
Get your face painted with an Easter design or a Maya symbol you’ve discovered on your adventure.

Find out more about face painting

Base camp on Kew Palace Lawn

Imagine you're a botanist exploring a ruined Maya village. Visit our botanist's base camp on Kew Palace lawn and get creative in craft workshops.

Date: Saturday 31 March - Sunday 15 April
Time: 10.30am – 4pm daily

During our Easter festivities, the lawn in front of Kew Palace will be transformed into a botanist’s base camp pitched in a ruined Maya village. Here you will find craft workshops where the little ones can have fun making a Maya mask, headdress or worry dolls to take home.

Don't worry if you run out of time to do all the activities during your visit - you can download instructions here and carry on the creativity when you get home.

Origami in the Waterlily House

Float a beautiful origami flower on the waterlily pond as a gift to a Maya god.

Float an origami flower on the Waterlily Pond

Date: Sat 31 March - Sun 15 April
Time: 10.30am - 4pm daily
Location: Waterlily House (near the Palm House)

The ancient Maya believed that plants came from the Underworld, a place beneath the Earth’s surface where people went when they died. Water was a place where Underworld and Earth overlapped, and the waterlily was an important link between the two.

Visit the Waterlily House to offer an origami flower as a gift to the Maya jaguar god in the waterlily pond - have a go at folding your own or choose one that's already made. Here you can also learn about chilli peppers and their links to Maya culture.