Gardening with Kids

It's funny how life can bring you full circle back to things you never dreamed it would. Twenty plus years ago, while I was in college, I was a toddler teacher at a small daycare. Fast forwarding to 2011, I began working at a childcare center again which opened the door to me adding preschool gardening under my coaching umbrella. (And I have to pause here to say, "I LOVE IT!') There is a great joy in watching a child's face light up when they literally discover the fruits of their labor. Whether it is about the sprout of a planted seed or a vegetable ready to harvest, children create a contagious excitement in the garden.When someone spots a new butterfly chrysalis, you'd think someone had just given us a million dollars! Teachers, children & said gardening coach, all burst into cheers!

It does my heart good to see both children and adults get so much from gardens. It's great to see the teachers and other staff are just as fascinated as the kids. One center has a wonderfully creative chef and he delights in picking fresh vegetables from the garden to prepare and serve to the children. At their sister center, the preschool teacher made vegetable soup with the students using the herb and vegetable gardens. The children smelled and tasted the herbs to decide which ones to include in the soup. They tasted the vegetables as they went in a crock pot and then went down for nap time. They awakened to the aroma of a delicious soup for afternoon snack. There was not a drop left in any bowl! I beamed for the rest of week from this teacher's story!

We are so elated now with our summer gardens. At the same center where the kids made soup, the garden is located just outside that preschool class and the wall is completely windows. The same teacher says the children stay glued to the wall as much as possible watching the growth of what they've planted. Particularly, we planted a "sunflower house" in late spring and they seem to be growing almost an inch a day! The students are fascinated by this, taking great pride in the success of their green thumbs. Any day now our sunflowers will burst into bloom and I will know the day as soon as I set foot in the center because the children will run to me screaming, "Ms. Janice!!! Ms. Janice!!! Our sunflowers are blooming!!! Our sunflowers are blooming!!! And my heart will fill with joy. And my children and I will go out to our garden to see those sunflowers together.