The Importance of Kinder Gardening
One of the biggest challenges for modern families is gaining ready access to healthy and affordable food. There are a lot of reasons that could be used to explain how we got to this point, but perhaps the most obvious one is that we simply forgot about our green thumbs!
Most children aren’t sure about where our food comes from, or how it is grown. Today’s children can easily pick out a fast food restaurant before they can tell us the name of a tomato, and though the occasional Happy Meal can always make a child’s day, it’s important that they are familiar with the wonderful flavors, textures and smells of a freshly picked fruit and vegetable.
School and community gardens provide children with a living laboratory for kids to explore, learn and gain insights to the world around them. Research has shown that through school & community gardening efforts, children, educators and families can develop a commitment to the environment, healthier food choices, and deeper connections with the larger community.
There has also been plenty of work done to suggest that the behavior of children can change after spending time fashioning their own green thumb. They prefer to spend more time outdoors, avoid negative social behaviors, and engage in imaginative play with greater purpose.
All of this starts by asking children provocative questions like:
Why do people plant gardens?
How can a garden help the local community?
What do plants need to grow?
What are different uses for plants?
How do people interact with plants?
What is the local growing season?
Exploring a garden, and regularly interacting with plants, animals and insects, provides children a unique insight to the web of life. At a more personal level, it encourages children to develop an emotional connection to the themselves, the seasons and creatures that share in their garden. These traits can be perceived as the building blocks of an environmental stewardship that will develop as they grow into future citizens!
At Kindertown, gardening has been part of our programming for almost a decade. Starting with modest planters throughout our playground, we now have a quarter acre urban garden that is both a learning environment and a source for healthy and nutritious foods. During the summer months, our children spend their mornings in the garden, tending the plants, making crafts and learning about the importance of sun, soil and water. When we aren’t using the vegetables in one of KTown recipes, our parents are given the opportunity to take some home for their own healthy and delicious meal!