10 Tips To Get Children Involved In The Garden

Fun In The Garden
Fun In The Garden
We are frequently asked “How can I get my kids interested in gardening?”.  And these days with easy access to a range of electronic entertainment devices, it is more important than ever to encourage children to create their own garden and grow their own food.  Here are our top ten tips to encourage your kids into the garden.     Continue reading

The Green Sustainability Project at Hillarys Early Childhood Learning Centre

Hillarys Early Learning Centre garden
The children enjoyed planting and caring for their vegetables.
Every year since 2008 Coles and Junior Landcare have been providing grants to schools and youth groups to create gardens in their grounds or community.  The Hillarys Early Childhood Learning Centre, in Hillarys, Western Australia, received a $1100 grant in 2012 to develop an interactive sensory garden that involved not only the school and parent community but also members of the wider, local community. This is their story:
The Green Sustainability Project at Hillarys Early Childhood Learning Centre is a community project involving the staff from the school, the parent community and wider community (grandparents and interested members of the local community) which turned a very lifeless patch of unused ground attached to the Early Years Learning Centre into an interactive Sensory Garden. Continue reading

A Compost Critter Investigation for the Kids

slaters in compost
Investigating compost critters
This week is International Composting Awareness Week so it’s the perfect opportunity to engage kids in the wonderful world of composting. Today my students and I rolled up our sleaves, pulled out the magnifying glasses and had a fun afternoon investigating the animals that live in our school compost. The kids absolutely loved it and I had a hard time getting them to put the compost back at the end of the lesson. They all wanted to stay after school and keep going! Continue reading

Tip for Keeping your Worm Farm Cool

Keep your worm farm in the shade to help keep it cool
Keep your worm farm in the shade to help keep it cool
Keeping a worm farm is not only a fun experience for kids it is also a great way to teach children about life cycles and food scrap recycling. On hot days though our poor little wiggly friends can really suffer from the heat and sadly they often perish. Here are some tips contributed by our fabulous facebook followers to help prevent this from happening: Continue reading

Gardening for the senses

Gardening for the senses
Stimulating the sense of touch
Gardening is beneficial for people of all ages and children are no exception. Kids have a natural curiosity about nature and spending time out in the garden is full of endless opportunities. We learn through our senses and gardening stimulates all five. It is therefore a fantastic way to develop children’s understanding of the world around them:

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