Creating Healthy Schools & Communities: Gardening with Kids
By: Tracy Snyder, Physical Activity and Nutrition Education Manager, Family of Woodstock
Why garden with children? To some people it seems like a foreign concept. Gardening with preschoolers? But it’s so messy! The children won’t know how to do it, it’s too much work, etc. Research confirms what anyone who gardens knows. Gardening has a positive influence on many aspects of a child’s life.
Learning
Gardening offers a hands on exploration of many subjects, including science, math, art, literature and history. Gardening allows kids to learn though experience. It’s a safe and fun place to try new things.
Nutritional Awareness and Physical Activity
When kids grow and harvest fruits and vegetables they are far more likely to try them. Gardening also offers kids ample opportunities to get outdoors, walking, lifting, carrying, digging and planting, as well as practicing balance and dexterity, all while participating in an enjoyable and engaging activity.
Environmental Stewardship
Gardening fosters kids’ feelings of connection to community, plants, animals, food and their bodies.
Mental Health and Social Emotional Wellbeing
Kids who garden not only have fun but also develop feelings of pride , happiness, and exhibit more cooperative behavior than in the classroom. The bacterium in dirt raises serotonin levels and boosts the immune system.
Food Security
By teaching kids to grow their own fruit and vegetables, you are empowering them to feed themselves.
Supporting Gardens in Ulster County Daycares
My experience gardening with children has been a positive one in so many ways. I had one daycare that was so excited about their
garden that they made me a list front and back of everything they wanted to grow. The day we planted our seeds, one boy saw the
cucumber seeds and excitedly shouted, “Pickles”! I saw how excited he was and explained that they were cucumber seeds but that he could plant them and when they were ready I’d be happy to come back and make some pickles with the group. He was intrigued. He didn’t know that pickles are cucumbers and he started asking what we could do with each vegetable. His excitement was contagious, and soon the entire group were making plans for when they could harvest what they were planting.
In yet another group, a little boy was planting broccoli and saying he didn’t like broccoli. I asked him if he thought he might try it since he was planting it. He didn’t even hesitate and said yes. I took that as a win!
When I return to the daycares I work with, the kids are always excited to show me how their vegetables have grown, how they’ve been caring for their gardens, and a lot of kids have also gotten their parents to start a garden at home as well.
In this digital age kids are getting immediate gratification from video games and the internet, whereas a garden teaches them patience.
The same children, who didn’t know where their food comes from, are now making the connection while caring for and nurturing their little seeds into thriving plants. The pride they feel when they show me a tomato almost ready to pick on a plant that they started from a seed is absolutely heart warming.
I could never tire of the excitement and enthusiasm these young people project as they plant and observe their gardens grow.
It is inspiring and motivating. Every garden planted makes a difference, not only for each child but it’s also good for the environment and cuts down on grocery costs as well.
My suggestion is: Garden…and if you are lucky enough to have a little one at home, include them! The fun and creativity are endless!
Interested in a garden at your daycare or early care center?
Tracy has supported 14 daycares and early care centers in Ulster County install gardens through the Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) grant. To see if your location qualifies for the CHSC grant, reach out to Tracy at tsnyder@familyofwoodstockinc.org.
