| The latest news, views and reviews for Australia's child care industry.
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October 22, 2013 |
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| Enhancing gardening
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| Helping children enjoy the garden |
 The majority of Australian early childhood education and care services are fortunate enough to have an outside area and many also have a garden which the children are able to be involved with. To read how easy it is to establish a garden in your service click here.
Gardens are magical places for children, filled with opportunities for exploration, physical activity and new experiences. Digging in the dirt, pulling out weeds, watching bees at work and touching, tasting and feeling fruits and veges pulled from a patch are rich experiences for preschoolers.
Sharing the experience with children and encouraging them to fully explore the delights of a simple garden can instill a life long interest passion and appreciation in children and is a fairly straightforward undertaking.
In the Early Childhood Australia publication Everyday Learning Together in the Garden author Lyn Bower says that through gardening children learn:
- an appreciation of the natural world
- a sense of wonder and exploration
- an understanding of patterns and life cycles
- creativity
- relaxation
- how to solve problems
- other valuable skills such as literacy, and understanding maths through patterns or counting.
Encouraging an interest in gardening
Most children will naturally be interested in developing or maintaining a garden in an early childhood service. Some simple suggestions to enhance and promote that interest include
- Keeping it simple. When it comes to gardens it doesn't take much to appease a curious mind and the simplest plants and gardening projects will be of great interest to the children.
- Giving children their own garden space. Please note this does not have to be big, you could simply provide them a few planter boxes and pots and allow them the freedom to create their own garden.
- Involving older children in the planning and design of the garden.
- Using lightweight, brightly coloured easy-to-handle, correct-sized tools and garden equipment.
- Encouraging children to play and dig in the dirt. Point out the worms and any other interesting aspects.
- Growing colourful, aromatic, tasty, varied and interesting plants such as strawberries, tomatoes, basil, snow peas and carrots (see below).
- Planting flowers that attract butterflies, ladybirds and other interesting insects or birds.
- Making a scarecrow out of clothes donations.
- Installing a water feature, a birdbath or a sundial.
- Setting up a compost bin and/or worm farm and maintaining it with lunch and snack scraps.
Which plants?
While children may well be equally delighted by a planter box full of weeds as a carefully manicured service garden, there are certain plants which are universally popular with kids. Children love brightly coloured flowers and vegetables which grow quickly and are interesting to investigate. As mentioned above strawberries, daffodils and basil are great examples.
Plants offer a range of amazing sensory and textural experiences such as
Touch: succulents, woolly lamb's ear, kangaroo paw
Taste: peas, cherry tomatoes, rosemary, carrots, rocket leaves
Smell: jasmine, lavender, rosemary, lemon myrtle, mint, citrus
Colour: variegated vegetables such as purple carrots, pansies, sunflowers, marigolds
An age appropriate experience
Infants, toddlers and preschoolers will all have different expectations of their garden and will learn different things. While the youngest kids in a group will require supervision most children will be able to be involved in planting seeds, watering, weeding, harvesting and digging. Older children will be able to help with mulching and pruning.
To promote enthusiasm, sustained interest and a sense of accomplishment in children steer them towards activities which are appropriate for their age. Suggestions you may like to consider include:
- Watering the garden
- Digging
- Picking flowers
- Planting vegetables, fruits and flowers in the correct season
- Feeding the worms and using the ‘worm wee' from the worm farm as fertiliser
- Picking vegetables and fruits when they are ready to eat
- Preparing healthy food, such as making salads and preparing school lunches
- Craft activities using harvested seeds, plants and flowers
- Composting, recycling and mulching
- Weeding
- Gathering seeds and dried flowers
- Removing heads from dead flowers
- Preparing the soil with organic fertiliser
- Replanting and re-potting.
An eye on safety Gardens are fairly safe environments for children. Very young children may seek to explore with their mouths and will need supervision however for older kids there are few risks especially if you:
- Select the correct-sized tool for the children.
- Keep sprays and fertilisers out of reach (or better still not use them).
- Maintain an organic garden.
- Provide safe storage for equipment and tools.
- Secure fences and gates.
- Provide shade in summer with umbrellas or shade cloth.
- Make sure that children wear a hat, sunscreen, suitable clothing and gumboots.
- Do not leave buckets of water unattended around very young children and toddlers.
References
Gardening for children by Better Health Channel Victoria.
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