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  • 1.  KidsGardening is Offering Free Registration for a Pilot of Our New Online Course: Landscape Design for Youth Gardens

    Posted 09-29-2022 01:55:00 PM

    KidsGardening is Offering Free Registration for a Pilot of Our New Online Course: Landscape Design for Youth Gardens

     

    Do you want to learn more about youth garden design and help us develop a new educational program? We're offering free registration to our new online course, "Landscape Design for Youth Gardens," to a limited group of people in October 2022.

     

    Beginning in January 2023, KidsGardening will launch this course as a paid offering via KidsGardening.org. Join us now to get in on the FREE version of the course.

     

    Open to teachers, caregivers, and/or community volunteers, participants will either join live or watch a recording of eight 30-minute educational sessions and provide feedback through a formal evaluation survey.

     

    The course will take place Tuesday and Thursday nights at 7 PM ET from October 11 to November 3.

     

    Please see below for additional details and a link to register your interest in participating: https://kidsgardening.getlearnworlds.com/course/landscape-design

     

      

    Course Title: Landscape Design for Youth Gardens

     

    Course Description:

    A youth garden provides opportunities for kids to play, learn, and grow through plant-based and gardening activities. To achieve a high level of engagement, it is essential for the adults designing the garden to view the world through the eyes of a child and focus on how kids can enjoy and feel comfortable interacting in and with the space. At the same time, the grown-ups tasked with this challenge are also faced with making sure the space is safe, accessible, visually appealing, and easy to maintain.

     

    In this course, we will introduce participants to the basic steps and elements of landscape design that can be used to plan an interactive, fun, and sustainable youth garden. The goal is to provide design guidance to help you plan a youth-friendly garden that is engaging and beautiful. The focus will be on the practical application of fundamental design techniques to help new-to-youth gardening educators, community volunteers/leaders, and family members start a gardening journey with the kids in their lives.

     

    Course Objectives:

    Through this course, participants will explore each of the following through the lens of creating garden spaces for youth:

    1. Basic landscape design steps and principles.
    2. Youth-friendly plant selection, garden themes, and hardscape elements.
    3. Accessible design elements to create garden spaces for diverse youth audiences.
    4. Garden structures and techniques to ease maintenance and support sustainability.

      

    Course Structure:

    This 8-session course will include 30-minute live sessions, which will be recorded for later viewing, followed by an optional time for discussion and questions following the live session. Each session will also include suggested readings and an optional 'lab' component for students who want to dive deeper into the topic by completing a related hands-on assignment on their own time and then sharing their work with other students.

     

    Course Outline:

    Week 1 – Introductions and What is a Youth Garden?

    Week 2 – Conducting a Needs Assessment and Site Analysis

    Week 3 – Design and Basic Principles of Design

    Week 4 – Choosing Hardscape Elements

    Week 5 - Plant Selection and Garden Themes

    Week 6 – Creating Engaging Spaces for Youth of Different Developmental Levels and Abilities

    Week 7 – Installing and Maintaining a Youth Garden

    Week 8 – Sustaining, Evaluating, and Adapting Your Design

     

     

     



    ------------------------------
    Em Shipman
    Executive Director
    KidsGardening
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  • 2.  RE: KidsGardening is Offering Free Registration for a Pilot of Our New Online Course: Landscape Design for Youth Gardens

    Posted 10-03-2022 11:21:00 AM
    Hello! Thanks so much for developing this course. I am looking forward to signing up for a Spring 2023 session, since the pilot opportunity has already closed (no surprise, lol).

    HOWEVER, I have one question: will there be discussion of how the garden space can be used OFF-season? The actual growing season is very short in my region and volunteers to assist with maintenance at any time of year are also in short supply. With that, training folks to see a youth garden as an Outdoor Classroom, not "just" a garden (and I say that with love), can help shift perspectives to make these projects more sustainable for the long term. It's a theory, lol.

    Kudos to the KidsGarden Community and may the pilot be a fun learning experience for all!   :-)

    Best,
    Carole Palmer
    Food Systems Senior Specialist, COPE Program
    Gallup, NM

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    Carole Palmer
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  • 3.  RE: KidsGardening is Offering Free Registration for a Pilot of Our New Online Course: Landscape Design for Youth Gardens

    Posted 10-04-2022 12:24:00 PM
    Hi Carole! Thanks for this suggestion.  For the pilot at least, we will be focused on garden design although information about all of the other great things that can be included like outdoor classroom space will be included too. This is definitely a true pilot though and open to  being revised. We will add this suggestion in for consideration as we put the finishing touches on it for the spring.

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    Sarah Pounders
    Senior Education Specialist
    The Woodlands TX
    832-418-6540
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  • 4.  RE: KidsGardening is Offering Free Registration for a Pilot of Our New Online Course: Landscape Design for Youth Gardens

    Posted 10-05-2022 02:23:00 PM
    HI Em,
    Is it too late to join the garden landscape class?

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    JACQUELINE LACEY
    Kimbark Elementary School
    San Bernardino CA
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  • 5.  RE: KidsGardening is Offering Free Registration for a Pilot of Our New Online Course: Landscape Design for Youth Gardens

    Posted 10-06-2022 11:19:00 AM
    Hi Jacqueline!  The pilot program is full right now, but we will be using the feedback from this session to launch it again in early 2023 so stay tuned for more soon!

    ------------------------------
    Sarah Pounders
    Senior Education Specialist
    The Woodlands TX
    832-418-6540
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  • 6.  RE: KidsGardening is Offering Free Registration for a Pilot of Our New Online Course: Landscape Design for Youth Gardens

    Posted 10-06-2022 03:38:00 PM
    If there are any spots that open up, I would be interested in jumping in. I am currently taking a course on digital media design. More importantly, I am also a candidate for a position with Teach for America and considering a spring application to Food Corps. I am making a career change to nutritional education and would love the added information and experience. Thanks - jody

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    Jody Trumbull
    Farm - HER
    J.Elizabeth Floral and Farm
    Savannah.Georgia
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