Skip to main content

Fine Arts & Science - Gardening with the Children

How does your garden grow? The children have been exploring bulbs and seeds. They decided to plant Iris bulbs several weeks ago and are excited about the developing shoots poking through the soil, the leaves and, this week, the signs of a flower emerging. How exciting for all of us! The children have developed a love of seeds and soil. We have explored the soil, roots and seeds of different plants. The dandelions are in full bloom around the playground. Many bouquets adorn  the classroom. The children have also noticed flowers turn to seed and blow away, starting new plants. We started to examine the flower and what’s inside.








 All of the children were thoroughly engaged throughout this process. A tulip was also available for them to explore and touch. They noticed how delicate and soft the petals were.  



 The children wanted a closer look and a magnifying glass
was provided for them.

All this led to more exploration of seeds. Scarlett Runner seeds are not only beautiful to look at, but grow quickly and are a nice size for the children to handle.


Choosing just the right seed.


Plastic cups were provided for the children. They dug their own soil and planted their special seed. The seeds were gently watered with eye droppers and placed on the window sill to get their much needed sunshine.




At circle we discussed the germination process that would take place. This was a long discussion with many questions and of course anticipation for their seeds. We would watch. The children checked their plants and cared for them daily.


A little shoot appears.

 The seed has split and two leaves are reaching for the sunshine.

Our bean seeds, almost ready to plant outdoors.

The sequence of germination.


All the children got to take home their special bean seeds. The teachers are receiving the growing reports on how the children’s plants are growing.


Our Garden Boxes


A group discussion took place in which we asked the children what they would like to grow in their garden boxes on the deck.


 

The choices were many. Carrots, peas, purple beans, lettuce , green onions, potatoes and different herbs. The children have chosen to plant a box for salad, including parsley, mint, lettuce, green onions, tomatoes and their much wanted potatoes.


Planting the parsley and getting the soil just right.

 The potatoes go into the soil.

It wasn’t long before the children noticed that the potatoes
 were coming up.


We will soon have a salad garden to harvest. That will be an exciting day for the children! It is interesting to see how focused and dedicated they are to their plantings. The children are patient.

When asked what other kinds of food they like to eat the overwhelming response was pizza. We discussed what we needed to make a really good pizza. Could we grow anything in our garden boxes for pizza? The children came up with some really great suggestions. They have chosen to plant more garlic, some tomatoes, green peppers and spinach. Our next step might be to add some basil and oregano. We will have a pizza garden to complement their salad garden. A garden for the children - what a great teaching and learning experience!! Throughout this process the children were truly engaged and have learned many different things. It is learning through play, inspiring each other to touch, smell and explore the things in nature.

Until next time…..enjoy this beautiful weather!

~Joanne
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mosaic Garden Stones

Today our children had an amazing opportunity to work with Glen Anderson, a local artist specializing in mosaics. You can see his work at http://www.mosaicplanet.net . I met Glen last year at Urban Weavers Studio in Strathcona. I asked him many, many questions about mosaics, all of which he patiently answered with expertise. I was gearing up for an art project in our preschool class so I really wanted to get any pointers I could from him. The plan was to have our students make mosaic tiles to place along our fence at the garden plot at Terra Nova Farm. They worked out very well, thanks to Glen's great advice and it was a beautiful moment when child and parent hung the stones at the farm on our last day of school. It was a moment of great pride for all of us. The garden that they cared for with their own hands- tended to its needs in sunshine and in rain. They will always remain part of that space, that land and their stone will remind them of this connection. Even though they turne...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Love for Cabbage

Another day of working with cabbage-our prized cabbage that I babied throughout the summer. The cabbage that I saved from the demise of cabbage worms, watered, and surrounded with copper to scare away slugs. So, yes, babied. After all that care and love I was hoping the children would enjoy working with this gorgeous vegetable and like the taste of it. The coleslaw was a hit last week but would cooked cabbage get the same positive response? We assembled our ingredients for cabbage rolls and showed all the children. They smelled all the spices that were in the recipe and many of them loved the smell of the fresh garlic! They took great pride in recognizing onion, salt, pepper, tomato sauce and ground beef. I wanted to introduce them to another herb so we passed around marjoram, which many agreed smelled sweet. We pre-cooked the meat just so the children could work with the food without any cause for concern. The smell of the onions and meat simmering sparked the interest of many ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Volunteering at Richmond Food Bank

Today was our last day volunteering at the Richmond Food Bank. I am so grateful we had this opportunity– it has been an extraordinary experience for all of us. I, myself, have been very lucky to work in a community where I have seen dedicated volunteers working countless hours for people and projects they believe in. In my own community centre, the staff devote extra hours for many events, all to help strengthen our community. From these experiences grew a desire within me to try to share this with our children. How can we make them generous with their time and energy for the good of others? How can we teach them to be giving people– people that think of others? Are they too young for these concepts? In my need to answer these questions, I sought to find a volunteer opportunity for them. I thought about many different ideas but the food bank always came out ahead. I was lucky enough to come across an open-minded and risk-taking individual– let's face it, preschoolers gett...
Post a Comment
Read more