Botanical Garden Museum launches “Accessible Sunday” with tours and workshops geared toward people with disabilities

On July 27, the Botanical Garden Museum will hold the first edition of “Accessible Sunday,” a monthly program that will take place on the last Sunday of each month. The initiative seeks to increase the participation of people with disabilities through accessible, sensory, and inclusive educational activities. The Botanical Garden Museum is the result of a partnership between the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, Shell Brazil, the space's master sponsor, and idg - Instituto de Desenvolvimento e Gestão (Institute for Development and Management).

With free admission, the initiative represents a step forward in the Museum's commitment to museology focused on diversity and inclusion. The activities are designed to encourage access for audiences with different forms of perception, mobility, and communication, including people with visual, hearing, intellectual, motor, and neurodivergent disabilities.

At the premiere, the program includes educational visits with sensory adaptations and simultaneous translation into Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), as well as a workshop on traditional knowledge related to the use of medicinal plants. The visits feature accessible routes, the use of tactile and sound materials, and educational strategies that promote the autonomy and protagonism of the participants.

One of the activities invites the public to tour the Museum's exhibitions and the Sensory Garden of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, accompanied by educators and sign language interpreters. Located in the JBRJ Arboretum, the Sensory Garden was designed to stimulate the senses, promote direct contact with plants, and offer an accessible route for wheelchair users, visually impaired people, and other visitors with reduced mobility.

The Botanical Garden Museum has access ramps, elevators, and wide doors, ensuring greater mobility for all visitors. The space also has tactile flooring, which guides visually impaired people along the route, as well as a tactile map of each floor and a tactile model of the building. Complementing these resources, the MJB offers a WebApp with accessible content, including texts in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, videos in Libras, and audio description resources.

Schedule

Sensory cognitive visit

Time: 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Meeting point: Reception Room
Audience: people with intellectual and/or mental disabilities and their companions.

Places: 20, on a first-come, first-served basis

Starting promptly, the visit takes place at an exclusive time, as established by Municipal Law No. 6,278. The route is adapted with sound adjustments and sensory objects, providing a more peaceful and accessible experience.

Traditional games of the Atlantic Forest

Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Location: gardens in front of the Museum

Places: 20 places per session

Target audience: Children aged 4 to 12

The public is invited to discover a little more about the traditional cultures of the Atlantic Forest through games inspired by their ways of living, coexisting, and learning from nature. The activities stimulate the body, listening, and collectivity. Playing, here, is also a way of valuing ancestral knowledge and recognizing the cultural diversity of the indigenous peoples who inhabit this forest.

Sowing - With Lekolé

Time: 2 sessions - 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Location: Museum Gardens

Audience: session 1 - 0 to 3 years old; session 2 - 4 to 10 years old

Spots: 20 per session, first come, first served.

A sensory encounter for babies and children, with music, stories, aromas, and textures that stimulate an emotional bond with nature from the earliest years of life. The activity, conducted by the Lekolé group, will feature interpreters in Brazilian Sign Language.
Cognitive Sensory Visit: Museum + JBRJ Sensory Garden

Time: 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Meeting point: Reception Room
Audience: children, families, and the general public

Spaces: 20, on a first-come, first-served basis

Multisensory tour of the Museum's exhibitions and the JBRJ Sensory Garden, with guidance from educators and a sign language interpreter. The activity promotes interaction with natural elements and tactile materials, valuing different forms of perception and expression.

Atlantic Forest Tour: infinite charms

Time: 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Meeting point: Reception Room
Target audience: children, families, and the general public

Spaces: 20, on a first-come, first-served basis
Tour with sensory mediation and a sign language interpreter, promoting multisensory contact with the temporary exhibition “Mata Atlântica: in-finitos encantos”.

Ancestral Knowledge: teas and infusions

Time: 4pm to 5pm

Location: Multipurpose Room

Audience: ages 7 and up

Places: 20, on a first-come, first-served basis

Workshop on the traditional and medicinal use of plants, focusing on the transmission of knowledge between generations. Led by an educator and with translation into Brazilian Sign Language.

Service
Accessible Sunday at the MJB and Sensory Garden of the Botanical Garden
July 27, 2025
Free admission | All ages welcome

Botanical Garden Museum
Visiting hours: Thursday to Tuesday (closed on Wednesdays) / 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (stay until 6 p.m.)

Free admission upon ticket pickup at https://jbrj.eleventickets.com
Access via Rua Jardim Botânico, 1008 – Botanical Garden.