Bright colors fill the garden, around you and under you. The cement walkway is painted in rainbow colors and small purple and yellow flowers are just starting to poke their heads up out of the ground.

Crouching down to child size, you can enter the Secret Garden which leads to a maze of tall shrubs and brick columns. Don't worry though - if you're anywhere near 5 feet tall, you can't get lost.

Turtles sun themselves until a curious child gets too close while the wind moves tall grasses into a soothing serenade.

It's every child's dream and it's only a short walk to south campus away.

Although it's overlooked by tall campus buildings at Bogue Street and Wilson Road, the Michigan 4-H Children's Garden feels a world away from student stresses.

The garden, an interactive horticultural habitat created with kids in mind, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year by opening a second garden - inside. Visitors to the inside garden will have the chance to experience the lives of butterflies which flutter freely in the greenhouse. The greenhouse currently holds six species of butterflies and makes a perfect hands-on classroom for any child, or adult.

The six-week exhibit, which ends May 11, is in its first year. MSU used to have its own butterfly house but it was forced to close due to a lack of funding.

"When the butterfly house closed, we didn't have the money to maintain just a butterfly house," garden curator Norm Lownds said. "The plan is that event will become annual and self-supporting."

Lownds has been the curator of the garden for more than six years. He said the garden was the brainchild of the original curator, Jane Taylor.

"She wanted to create a public garden where kids would have a really good experience with plants and that they would want to come back to rather than a typical botanic garden," he said. "Ya know, you go there with your parents and you can stand and look at things but when you're a kid, it's kind of like 'been there, done that.'"

And the children's garden is anything but boring.

The indoor and outdoor gardens are divided into theme areas ranging from American Indian plants to plants native to Michigan to plants used to make pizza sauce and many more.

"We try to have a whole bunch of different themes to engage and interest kids and get them to want to come back," Lownds said.

Entrance to both the outdoor and indoor gardens is free, however there's a charge for student groups because of educational programs provided by MSU faculty and staff.

The gardens are funded by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, The Michigan 4-H Foundation and school groups.

Throughout the summer months, the garden hosts at least one special event per week which could be anything from making crafts to watching a play or a musician.

"Our first outdoor event is May 29 and it's called 'Start Your Garden Day,'" Lownds said. "Kids will be able to start some seeds or plants that they will be able to take home so they can take a piece of our garden with them and be able to grow a piece of it wherever they live." Children of all ages can find something to enjoy at the children's garden.

LeeAnn Pramuk, a horticulture graduate student, said visiting the garden makes her feel like a kid again.

"Usually at lunch I'll come out here just to get out of the building," she said. "I like watching the kids run around, in the summer it's really busy."

Pramuk said her favorite part of the garden is the chimes.

By stepping on different squares on the ground, the chimes allow you to make music with your feet. Each square has a different chime under it.

Lansing resident Rusty Jenkins and his daughter Kayla visited the gardens Monday for the first time this year.

"The weather brought us out here, it's beautiful today," he said, watching 5-year-old Kayla out of the corner of his eye as she explored the gardens. "She had the day off school so we figured this would be a good day to come out."

Kayla skipped around the garden, holding her father's hand and asking him questions about virtually everything in the garden.

"I like all the playground stuff and I like everything here," Kayla said as two mallards bathing in the garden's small pond caught her attention.

The children's garden, which is part of the Horticultural Demonstration Gardens, needs constant care throughout the year.

Lindsay Anderson, an environmental biology senior, dug through dead leaves and dry stems from last summer's flowers, putting them in a wheelbarrow.

Anderson is one of 14 student employees who clean, plant and maintain the garden.

"I love working here, it's really fun," she said, squinting and pulling her windblown hair out of her face. "It's a great learning experience. You get to learn all kinds of things about flowers, planting and landscaping."

Until planting begins next month, Anderson will continue to clean up the gardens. During the busy summer months, the employees are responsible for the general upkeep of the garden, which includes watering and weeding.

For more information about the garden, please see its extensive, interactive Web site at 4hgarden.msu.edu.