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What are your favorite spring lessons for kids outside/in the garden?

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posted 6 years ago

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I would love to know what other people are doing to get children interested in soils, food, plants, insects, and things that I haven't even considered, during spring in a garden or nature space. What are the most successful and tried-and-true lessons? What seasonal spring activities do the children look forward to every year? What traditions do you instill?

I am an outdoor and garden educator and the author of The School Garden Curriculum: An Integrated K-8 Guide to Discovering Science, Ecology, and Whole-Systems Thinking. Inspired by ecological design and permaculture principles, my goal is to make weekly gardening lessons more easily accessible to all educators and to inspire the next generation of change-makers.

Chris Kott

pollinator

Posts: 3847

Location: Marmora, Ontario

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posted 6 years ago

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Go for the gut. Food.

The reason I garden is because my maternal grandmother had me out in the garden planting and tending to tomatoes when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Involvement is the key, I think.

I would plant a pot, or pots, inside on a sunny windowsill, with things that grow fast and are hardy enough to have an indoor harvest, or with things that get planted outside. I would also sow radishes, beans, and squash from seed, where you can start from seed. And carrots. Children recognise them, and if you have the conditions to grow them properly, it's the kind of thing a child can easily find and harvest themselves, and even eat raw, right there in the spot from which it was picked.

I would focus on the sensory experience. Things that can be seen growing, that might rustle in the wind, that have distinctive textures either in the hand or on the tongue or both, with captivating scents and memorable tastes (garden-fresh, sun-warm watermelon beefsteak tomatoes!!!) are the plants that will capture their passions and imaginations.

-CK

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein

Kaci Rae Christopher

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posted 6 years ago

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Chris Kott wrote:Things that can be seen growing, that might rustle in the wind, that have distinctive textures...

I love the idea of doing exploration entirely based off of one sense (probably with a guiding partner). Very cool!

J Webb

pioneer

Posts: 50

Location: USDA Zone 6b, Coastal New England

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posted 6 years ago

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Looking under rocks and gently picking up some critters (millipedes, worms, grubs, etc). Showing that these things aren’t yucky or scary.

Then when sun pops out after a rain everyone is comfortable to move worms off our driveway to the dirt (before they get fried by the sun).

Can't .... do .... plaid .... So I did this tiny ad instead:

montana community seeking 20 people who are gardeners or want to be gardeners

https://permies.com/t/359868/montana-community-seeking-people-gardeners