Gardening can provide people with mental and physical benefits. This activity gets people in nature and moving around.
Ideas for getting kids outside learning and growing with these crafty garden projects for kids from vegetable gardening to silly gnomes. Idea Gallery.
Use this year plan of garden activities for children with monthly garden plan for the year, perfect for school gardening clubs.
Make a mini zen garden for kids - a perfect calm down activity for the entire family!
Gardening can provide people with mental and physical benefits. This activity gets people in nature and moving around.
'Mighty Chestnut' daylily is a mighty fine addition to summer garden beds with other colorful perennials.
If your community doesn’t already have a Gardening Club or residents, this time of year is a great time to start one. Remember, not everyone in the Club needs to have a green thumb - everyone can learn from one another!
A letter to send home to start a garden club at your school. ...
Gardening can provide people with mental and physical benefits. This activity gets people in nature and moving around.
Learn how to make all Natural Pesticide for your Garden. Homemade Insecticide is easy to make and much better than store bought chemicals. Anyone can make this homemade insecticide for plants. Try this all natural insecticide. You will love this homemade insecticide for garden vegetables.
Growing gardens with kids can be a lot of fun. We’re currently babying some seeds of our own as the kids are excited to grow their own salad garden this summer with the seed pods we started earlier this spring. While we wait for the seeds to sprout and be ready to plant in the
A step-by-step guide on how to make a wormery
Composting in a jar step-by-step directions! Reduce the amount of food waste that goes to landfills and learn about compost…
Prepare your green thumbs and dig into these 24 gardening coloring pages that are all free to download and print! This collection of printables will not only entertain children but also provide a great way to educate them about the beautiful diversity found in nature, the roles of different plants, and the joys of gardening.
You will be astonished by all the ways you can re-use those little, plastic k-cups!
Hand-made projects are the most fulfilling kinds, aren't they? Here are 30 DIY ideas to inspire you to get crafting and creative.
Ah, summer! Lazy days are ahead, but completing little projects in between sun bathing sessions can be so rewarding! Why not take on a little DIY craft during your summer vacation, try a DIY project
Why stop at one print if you can get much more interest by printing again!? Amazing reactions create unique details with this multiple Eco Print Effects.
Garden coloring pages are a wonderful subject for kids and adults. A garden is life, beauty and a pure expression of nature. Gardens are full of vegetables, flowers, insects, butterflies, even gnomes and fairies. You can color them all. We have simple and easy printable...
Have an area in your home that lacks sunlight? Check out our guide on 20 plants that grow without sunlight.
Starting seeds doesn't have to mean going out and spending money on starter trays or plastic pots; they can be made for free using newspaper.
Today is the first day of Spring so I’d like to discuss school gardens. I always wanted to have a school garden, and I found the perfect place for it, but it never happened, mainly because I just didn’t have the time to add such an undertaking to my schedule of teaching more than five grade levels every year. So when I decided this year to volunteer at a local school, I jumped at the chance to work with the teacher who maintained the school garden there. (Links and info in this post updated on 4/3/21.) Source: The ESL Nexus There are so many benefits to having a school garden! For ELLs, especially those at lower levels of language proficiency, working in a school garden means they can participate just as much as other students because the tasks are hands-on and visual. And if you plant some crops that are used in the cultures of your ELLs, it shows that you value those cultures and gives those students and their families a chance to share their knowledge and make them feel a part of the school community. Read on to find out: a) why a school garden is a good thing, b) resources for creating and maintaining a school garden, and c) where you can obtain funding for your own school garden. Source: The ESL Nexus Benefits of School Gardens 1) Students learn where their food comes from – for students in cities who aren’t familiar with farming, this can be very illuminating. 2) Students interact with nature by spending time outdoors and seeing insects and worms in the soil and as the plants grow. 3) Students learn teamwork because they have to work cooperatively to make the garden a success and students who don’t normally work with each other can be grouped together to develop their social skills. 4) Students learn patience because once seeds or seedlings are planted, they have to wait for them to grow and students can’t force the plants to sprout faster than nature intended. 5) Students learn math and science concepts – they are so many tie-ins to curricula for students of all ages it’s impossible to list them all here but recording observations, formulating hypotheses, measuring units, learning about nutrition, graphing results and calculating percentages are a few of them. 6) Students can do writing activities such as writing poetry, writing a description of a plant, writing how-to pieces about creating the garden, writing personal narratives about their experience with the garden, comparing and contrasting two different vegetables, writing about what a vegetable or herb tastes like, creating a recipe book for the foods that were grown, creating timelines about the growing process, and writing letters about their school garden. 7) Students can develop research skills by searching for information about school gardens, by finding out which crops are best suited to their region of the country, and by reading about how particular vegetables and herbs are used in other cultures. 8) Students can learn about geography and other cultures by planting vegetables and herbs cultivated in other countries. 9) Students from different ethnic backgrounds can share their cultures when crops that are common in their cuisines are cultivated, and this can also help foster appreciation for people from those cultures. 10) Students can develop multimedia skills by creating videos, podcasts, photo exhibits, posters, and oral presentations about their school garden. 11) The student-parent (or guardian) connection can be deepened when the families of the students working in the garden are involved – if some families have gardening experience they can help create and maintain the garden, families from immigrant and refugee backgrounds can share their knowledge of gardening and grow “ethnic” foods in part of the garden, families can show how to cook various vegetables and use herbs, and families can be invited to a feast with the students after harvesting the food. Resources about School Gardens * U.S. Department of Agriculture: Information an all aspects, from planning through sustaining a school garden program. * National Agriculture in the Classroom: Lesson plans, resources, information about conferences, and more. * Slow Food USA: Research-based rationale for implementing a school garden. * KidsGardening: All about designing, starting, and maintaining a school garden. * Growing Minds: Resources for starting a school garden, related lesson plans based on the Common Core State Standards, and information on applying for a grant if you are working in their region. * Let's Move: A checklist for getting started with a school garden. * Western Growers Foundation Collective School Garden Network: Information on the benefits of school gardens, how to plan and fund a school garden, planting a school garden, teaching with a school garden, and harvesting and eating the produce from an edible school garden; also includes grant opportunities for schools in Arizona and California. * Good, Clean and Fair School Garden Curriculum, from Slow Food USA: Lessons for all elementary and secondary students that align with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. Funding Sources Application deadlines for grants from many organizations for funding a spring garden have passed but the following opportunities are still available: * Bonnie Plants 3rd Grade Cabbage Program: Apply by February 15th. * Captain Planet ecoSolution Grants: Two cycles: a) Apply between September 15th and January 15th; b) Apply between March 15th and July 15th. * Project Learning Tree Green Works Grants: No information about applications for 2021 but the website has helpful info about gardening. * Wild Ones Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Grant: Program is currently suspended but if it resumes, applications will be available in July with a deadline of October 15, 2021 at midnight. The resources below include lists of the organizations, some of which are mentioned above, as well as many more whose deadlines have already passed. Some of the organizations are included in more than one of these sources listed below: * From Community Groundworks: Links to 18 grant opportunities plus links to resources about implementing school gardens. * From KidsGardening: Links to 20 grants that fund school gardens. Also offers a newsletter with free gardening activities for students. Having worked as an agricultural extension agent in the Peace Corps, I know well the joys of planting something and watching it grow. And although a school garden involves a lot of initial work, the benefits it brings to ELLs and all students is, as Helen Mirren affirms, certainly worth it.
Do you want to have fresh lettuce but without digging soil? Here are 5 ways to growing lettuce indoors or in container all year round.
Cardboard crafts are a favourite with us, because we send out so many boxes and love to see how they are reused for fun.
Make your own bug hotel using natural materials to attract ladybugs, bees, and other beneficial insects to the garden.
These DIY Soaking & Sprouting Lids for Mason Jars can be made at home for 5 cents each. Economical way to absorb more nutrients.
Learn how to make a gorgeous art print made from your favorite fresh blooms. Our simple flower pounding technique makes it easy to transform fresh flowers into a gorgeous art piece you can hang, display, or gift.
I was introduced to this lesson by Claire Kirk & Katie Flowers. Both amazing artists and art educators I have had the honor of knowing and working with over the years. From observational drawin…
Children's Garden Guide and 30 fun garden activities, science ideas, plant activities and garden crafts for preschool, elementary & families!
Gardening can take a back seat in Winter. Nothing much grows, the ground is too wet or frozen to dig and it's too cold.But, look beyond the TV screen...
Is it fun to decorate your garden with a few funny hedgehogs. With a little imagination and following the above steps, you can make a few hedgehogs to decorate your garden. It’s easy to make, what you need is a plastic bottle, pins or buttons, can be cute like in the picture above, then put […]
Artist Karen Robertson, known for her nature-inspired designs, shows how to transform seaweed into artwork that will remind you of the ocean's beauty for years to come.
What is the best wood to choose for raised garden beds? Which wood lasts the longest? Can the wood harm my garden? Find out the best wood to choose.
I've been in the mood to give my living room a fresh update for the spring/summer season {see this instagram picture}. One of the great advantages to living in Miami is that we have access to gorgeous tropical foliage at an amazing price. I saw a local farmers stand on the side of the road last week with a sign advertising orchids for sale for $10 each. Sold! I love my vintage wooden dough bowl, and often use that as a vessel for displaying seasonal decor around my house. Armed with my orchids in hand, I decided to try my dough bowl out as a planter, and am SO happy with how it turned out! Read on to see how it all came together.... Materials that you'll need: Wooden dough bowl, or another vessel to pot your orchids in {even an old wooden salad bowl would work for this project!}. 2-3 medium sized orchids, depending on the size of your bowl. I looked for orchids that had plenty of buds that had not yet bloomed, thus ensuring that I would get about a months worth of enjoyment out of this display. 2-3 bags of decorative moss {can be purchased at most crafts supplies stores like Michaels}. 1 bag of gravel or small rocks. 1 medium sized garbage bag. Scissors. Step 1. Cut the bottom of your garbage bag, about 6 inches from the bottom. Place the bottom piece inside your bowl, and spread a thin layer of gravel/rocks on the bottom. This will aid in drainage for the orchids. Step 2. Nestle your orchids on top of the layer of gravel, maneuvering them until they will sit upright. This part is a little tricky since they love to just flop right over so feel free to add more rocks or whatever will help them stay up. I originally bought 3 orchids for this project, but felt that it looked a little crowded so keep that in mind. Step 3. Add moss, and really try to pack it down so that your orchids stay put and move around minimally. Additionally, arrange the moss so that the plastic container that your orchids are sitting in is well concealed. Step 4. Move bowl to a sunny location and enjoy! For tips on how to care for your orchids, check out this link. I displayed my orchids on our recycled wood console table behind the couch. It's flanked by two black lanterns on either side that I filled with sand, shells, and a pillar candle. The black lanterns really compliment the black stitching detail in my new pillows on the couch. I'm really happy with how this looks, and it's the perfect refresh that my living room needed! For more home decor projects that I've worked on in the past, check out these posts: Coffee Table Decor Spring Entryway Decor Decorating With Dough Bowls Hoping this gives you a little inspiration to make small changes around your house to welcome in the new warmer weather seasons! Thanks for reading! xx
