Ideas for teaching kids about gardening

[gardeningwithe]

Hey all! I volunteered at my son's school the other day by helping them plant seedlings. They are currently going over plants and how they grow, so the teacher and I thought this would be good. I was surprised at the number of kids who had never planted a single seed (and this is in a rural area in TN- I just assumed most had gardens or had grandparents with gardens). I'd like to do more closer to Spring since most of them were very excited. They are in third grade so the age range is 8-9. Any suggestions? E my son thought about putting small packs together to give out (with a few easy to grow seeds that don't need a lot of room to grow) that could be grown in containers in or in a small garden bed. Any suggestions for quick and easy to grow veggies or flowers?

[imafan26]

School gardens are popular now. It is a great way for kids and families to do activities together and kids are more likely to eat something they have had a hand in growing. Many people now live in cities and apartments surrounded by concrete. Even people living in suburbia just plant grass and hire someone to mow their lawns for them because they do not have the time or inclination to do it themselves

Kids and adults have grown up getting their food from the supermarket. Many people do not know what a peanut plant looks like or know that canola oil comes from rapeseed, a type of mustard cabbage. Planting a garden not only gets people outside exercising instead of playing with their ipads, they learn a lot more about the world around them. Like the pollinators, caterpillars, millipedes, birds, snails, frogs, bees and all the creatures that are part of the ecosystem.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, I think giving kids the experience of how things grow and what it is like to plant a seed and have it grow into something you can eat is wonderful. Radish is the traditional easy for kids to grow, very fast to see results plant that is recommended. Other easy ones would be swiss chard (the rainbow colored varieties are a lot of fun), mixed leaf lettuces, beans. For flowers, marigolds are easy, good to have in your garden and the flowers are edible.

And definitely get them out of doors and just observing things. Define a square foot of ground and get them to just watch it for awhile and see what they see and then dig around in it, see how many living things they can see, then maybe with a magnifying glass and /or microscope. If they could be given cheap cameras (like they use for party favors these days), they could do an insect "collection," without the collecting, just by seeing how many different living things they could take pictures of.

[gardeningwithe]

Great Ideas- maybe I could see if they will be able to do a school garden. I guess my problem is being able to to something as a class, that only costs so much, and fits in the school's allowable rules. I suppose I shall talk to the teacher and see what she thinks.

Thanks so much for the responses. I bet rainbow chard would go well with the kids. I was just surprised that so few kids had gardened considering we live in the country. Then again just because we live in the the middle of nowhere doesn't mean there aren't plenty in apartments and such where space is a premium.