Early Childhood Gardening

Spring is Here!

This year we decided to rethink our gardening plans for toddlers. We had raised bed with a variety of plants and flowers, but once the watering was over, there was very little interaction or even awareness of the gardens.  

Since we are in Florida, we have two planting seasons. Typically, we start our fall gardens in September and spring gardens in March. As a director, I noticed teachers were stressed with the added task of gardening with children they were just getting to know. The focus needed to be first, on the relationship between the teachers and the children and between the children. So, we decided to start gardens in the Spring and to do away with the raised bed approach.

We are creating "destination" places around the playgrounds with container gardens providing the borders to define the space. For example, we made a CIRCLE garden in one corner of the playground with lots of round objects. Wood cookies are the base with several containers of plants with round leaves, fruit (tomatoes) and flowers. 

This is a fun meeting spot for some movement games like Ring Around the Rosie, and Hokey Pokey. A rain barrel near by provides easy access for watering.

Our next destination garden will be a "pizza garden" next to our outdoor kitchen equipment in another corner and a color garden which will be part of our outdoor art space. Stay tuned!

 

Spring is Here!

This year we decided to rethink our gardening plans for toddlers. We had raised bed with a variety of plants and flowers, but once the watering was over, there was very little interaction or even awareness of the gardens.  

Since we are in Florida, we have two planting seasons. Typically, we start our fall gardens in September and spring gardens in March. As a director, I noticed teachers were stressed with the added task of gardening with children they were just getting to know. The focus needed to be first, on the relationship between the teachers and the children and between the children. So, we decided to start gardens in the Spring and to do away with the raised bed approach.

We are creating "destination" places around the playgrounds with container gardens providing the borders to define the space. For example, we made a CIRCLE garden in one corner of the playground with lots of round objects. Wood cookies are the base with several containers of plants with round leaves, fruit (tomatoes) and flowers. 

This is a fun meeting spot for some movement games like Ring Around the Rosie, and Hokey Pokey. A rain barrel near by provides easy access for watering.

Our next destination garden will be a "pizza garden" next to our outdoor kitchen equipment in another corner and a color garden which will be part of our outdoor art space. Stay tuned!