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Gardening for Kids

Getting your child interested in gardening can sometimes be as easy as letting them follow you around, helping you do what you love. For others, it doesn’t come so easy. The links below are a starting point to a resource list of ways to involve your child in gardening. Included are some educational references that relate gardening to the curriculum. We hope you find these links useful.

Our Gardening with Kids Links are grouped as follows:

Educational agencies or institutions
Gardening newsletters and gardening forums
Mutli-feature gardening for kids sites

We would like to see this list become a useful resource to parents and teachers, children, and gardeners of all ages. If you have a link that you think should be added, please let us know. If it doesn't fit our classification groupings, suggest a new classification. We want the list to be useful to you.

We will also take this opportunity to shamelessly promote The Garden Management System, our gardening software. Track horticultural characteristics and requirements, plant locations, and your plant photos. Start with photos of your plants when they break ground in the spring, and add more as the season progresses. The following year, you will have your personal garden resource to help you determine what is a weed, and what is a perennial. The software is easy for parents and children alike. Special pricing available for schools and other organizaitons. Please inquire with an outline of how the software would be used for kids.

So, here are our Gardening for Kids links:

Educational Agencies or Insititution Sites

Junior Master Gardener program - getting kids involved in the community and learning about gardening. Administered by the Texas Agriicultural Extension Service.

Ministry of Education, Saskatchewan, Canada
Learning objectives include:
Students learn to identify and describe the parts of a plant

idenitify roots, stems, leaves and flowers of plants
compare the flowers, stems and leaves of plants
observe and record changes in plants as they grow

Students can describe how plants reproduce:

observe and describe seeds
compare different types of seeds
identify the plants which produce different types of seeds
classify seeds
identify the conditions necessary for seed germination
investigate how seeds are propagated
use vegetative reproduction to produce new plants

Some examples of where gardening and plant activities are found in the curriculum:

In the grade 1 unit on plants, students learn that plants are living things. The basic needs of plants are identified and their parts are compared. Adaptations of plants and the importance of plants to humans are also identified.
In the grade 2 core unit on weather, the effect that the weather has on plant growth and on agriculture is considered.
In grade 3, the unit on Earth can be used to show the conditions needed for plant growth. Plant structures and adaptations are optionally addressed.
Grade 4 contains an optional unit on plant diversity.
Grade 5 units deal with plant structure and function.

For more information on plants in the Saskatchewan educational system, and for official information, visit http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca.

Washington State University - Pierce County Extension Service, USA, 4-H EFNEP Youth Curriculum

The Growing with Plants program provides a blend of nutrition education, plant science and ecology that helps children understand the connection between their health, the food they eat, and where this food comes from.

Some topics included in this program are:

starting a garden
composting
roots (carbohydrates)
stems (fiber)
leaves
blooms

To find out more about this program visit http://www.pierce.wsu.edu/Nutrition/GWP.

Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, Ontario, Canada

The Science and Technology curriculum for grades 1-8 aids students not only in the development of knowledge they will need, but in the developement of attidudes that will motivate them to use their knowledge and skills in a responsible manner. The following chart from the Ministry's website shows plant related topics integrated into the curriculum.

**Strands and Topics: Science and Technology, Grades 1-8**
Strand	Life Systems	Matter and Materials	Energy and Control	Structures and Mechanisms	Earth and Space Systems
Grade 1	Characteristics and Needs of Living Things	Characteristics of Objects and Properties of Materials	Energy in Our Lives	Everyday Structures	Daily and Seasonal Cycles

Grade 2	Growth and Changes in Animals	Properties of Liquids and Solids	Energy From Wind and Moving Water	Movement	Air and Water in the Environment

Grade 3	Growth and Changes in Plants	Magnetic and Charged Materials	Forces and Movement	Stability	Soils in the Environment

Grade 4	Habitats and Communities	Materials That Transmit, Reflect, or Absorb Light or Sound	Light and Sound Energy	Pulleys and Gears	Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion

Grade 5	Human Organ Systems	Properties of and Changes in Matter	Conservation of Energy	Forces Acting on Structures and Mechanisms	Weather

Grade 6	Diversity of Living Things	Properties of Air and Characteristics of Flight	Electricity	Motion	Space

Grade 7	Interactions Within Ecosystems	Pure Substances and Mixtures	Heat	Structural Strength and Stability	The Earth’s Crust

Grade 8	Cells, Tissues, Organs, and Systems	Fluids	Optics	Mechanical Efficiency	Water Systems

The Life Systems strand combines the study of traditional topics in life science or biology, e.g., animals, plants, ecosystems, and cells, with technology as it relates to basic human needs, e.g., the need for food, shelter, and clothing. Students begin their study of life systems with aspects that are familiar to them, e.g., animals and plants in their environment, their own bodies, and gradually move on to study global or abstract aspects, such as ecosystems, and less readily visible aspects, such as the microscopic world of cells. Of particular importance in the Life Systems strand is the investigation of interactions between living things and their environment.

The topics covered in this strand are:
Grade 1: Characteristics and Needs of Living Things
Grade 2: Growth and Changes in Animals
Grade 3: Growth and Changes in Plants
Grade 4: Habitats and Communities
Grade 5: Human Organ Systems
Grade 6: Diversity of Living Things
Grade 7: Interactions Within Ecosystems
Grade 8: Cells, Tissues, Organs, and Systems

Further information regarding the expected outcomes for students and more can be found on our own Ontario Kids' Gardening page. Also, for full details, please see the Ontario Ministry of Education website.

The University of New Hampshire Sustainable Horticulture – Gardening for Kids site
Includes topics such as:

plant basics - seeds, roots, plant environment
making a garden - designing, measuring, preparing, weeding, etc.
garden themes - sensory garden, rainbow garden, deck planters
nature - bugs
snacks
projects - arts and crafts

Find out more about the programs from http://horticulture.unc.edu/school_pdf.html

Gardening Newsletters and Gardening Forums

Kids Gardening News – newsletter from kidsgardening.com, related to the National Gardening Association. Free to subscribe.

Gardening with Kids Forum GardenWeb aforum for the discussion of all aspects of gardening with children, including everything related to education and gardening.

Gardening for Kids Sites with Mutliple Features

KidsGardening.com - National Gardening Association site providing parents and teachers with gardening ideas for kids.

Gardening for Kids Science Project Resources

Do it yourself gardening for kids, entertaining and educational ideas for your kid’s garden.

den Haan’s Garden World – Projects from the Greehnouse Growers ASsociation of Nova Scotia’s Gardening for Kids.

I Can Garden – Kidz Korner – Gardening with Kids articles and articles about involving your child in the garden.

Gardening–With–Kids – building a life-long intrest in gardening – By starting young

To add your childrens gardening or educational link to this page, please mail us at hmkstaff@hmk.on.ca. Please put the phrase "Gardening for Kids" in the subject, to ensure your link request is routed to the proper person for review.

Comments? hmkstaff@hmk.on.ca