Good eating habits and a love of learning both start early, probably before preschool, but what better way to instill both in children than with a garden.  Gardening with preschoolers not only engages them in hands on learning, but begins to build positive experiences with healthy food.  If they grow it, meet the farmer who grew it or help prepare it, they are more likely to eat it.  This is the philosophy (and the experience) of ASAP’s Growing Minds program.

School gardens, farm fieldtrips and cooking with young children are three of the strategies we enlist to build positive relationships with fresh, healthy local foods.  As an educator, these tools can be a powerful tool to enhance language development, literacy,  mathematics, science, creative arts, social and emotional development, approaches to learning, as well as physical health and development.  Integrating food, farms and gardens throughout curriculum areas and centers gives student real life context for learning and discovery.

Many teachers are intimidated by the thought of gardening with young children because they have not gardened themselves.  Someone who has never grown food in a garden may be the ideal person to garden with children because they are able to model the learning process.  Allowing yourself to make mistakes and problem solving to correct mistakes is a valuable learning experience for all children  Some teachers that have been gardening for many years have the misconception that young children won’t be able to “do it right”.  A children’s garden should be focused on the experience of gardening rather than the result.  It is important for the garden to produce something, maximum production and neat rows can be sacrificed for the opportunity for children to participate in all pieces of the process.  Just as it takes some time, flexibility and creativity to allow for child directed and inquiry based learning, this is also true for gardening with young children.

Strategies for gardening with young children

Planning – Kids can be involved in every stage of planning a garden from where to put it to what is planted.  Have children discuss what plants need to grow and where would be the best place to put them.  Students can experiment with different measuring tools, counting how many “feet” long the bed will be, or using rulers and tape measures.    Flag or rope off the garden area so students have a visual of where the garden will be.  Seed catalogs are a great way for students to start thinking about all the different things they could grow.  Students can draw or make collages of their dream garden.

Preparing the beds – This is a hard piece for preschoolers, but is a great way to engage community members and parents.  Have students brainstorm all the people in the community that could help and organize a garden work day.  Although adults will do most of the work, make sure students are still involved and get to “help”.

Planting – Have a plan before you plant.  Try to let children do as much of the planting as possible.  Use baking flour to mark places for kids to pant.  Smaller groups works best.

Labeling – Marking and labeling plants can help create a language rich environment.  Make sure the materials you use will hold up to the elements.  Child created signs will help build ownership of the garden.

Structures – Children of all ages love garden structures.  From bean tee-pees to scarecrows garden structures are a wonderful way to build opportunities for dramatic play.

Care – Caring for a garden is a great way to teach responsibility and basic needs.  When establishing new seeds and plants water is the most important piece to successful growth.  This is also a perfect opportunity to create charts, make predictions and track growth.  Have children make a list of questions about the garden as they arise.  Have a “Garden Expert” visit the class to answer questions or help problem solve.

Harvesting – Everyone’s favorite part of gardening.  Establishing rules about harvesting, such as everyone can pick one thing each day or there is a special “harvest time", ensures there will be enough for everyone and that things won’t be harvested prematurely.

Putting to bed for the winter – Fall clean up and preparing a garden for the winter is another great time to enlist community help.  Deadheading perennials, weeding and planting a cover crop will make your garden more aesthetically appealing and make spring bed preparation a lot easier.

Incorporating the garden into the classroom – Students can help brainstorm how the garden could be connected to centers throughout the classroom.  Cooking is a natural connection and an important next step in reconnecting students with where there food comes from.

We know that gardening and an age appropriate engaging outdoor learning environment is good for children:

The Effects of Playing and Learning in Natural Settings
1. Stimulates all aspects and stages of child development.
2. Offer multi-sensory experiences.
3. Stimulate informal play experiential learning, and natural learning cycles.
4. Stimulate imagination and creativity in a special, boundless way.
5. Integrate children by age, ability, ethnic background.
6. Help children feel good about themselves. Enhance self-esteem.
7. Offer children a feeling of "intense peace."
8. Center children in the environment where they live.
9. Help children understand realities of natural systems.
10. Demonstrate the principle of cycles and processes.
11. Teach that nature is regenerative.
12. Support interdisciplinary, environmental education curricula.
13. Provide flexible and forgiving settings.
14. Aesthetically appealing to all people.

(Source: http://www.naturalearning.org/)

The challenge as educators is designing these areas well and providing teachers with the resources and supplies they need to create activities that enrich the outdoor environment and integrate it into goals, objectives, milestones, and the classroom.