GARDENING WITH

CHILDREN

Pam PaulsenCounty Extension Agent, Horticulture

K-State Research & Extension - Reno County

GARDEN CONSIDERATIONSSite Selection

✿Safe location✿Sunlight✿Drainage✿Protection✿Accessibility & Convenience

✿People✿Water, tools✿Wildlife

GARDEN CONSIDERATIONSGarden Design

✿Safety✿Maintenance✿Cost✿Accessibility -pathways, gates✿Irrigation✿Expansion✿Plant Material

GARDEN CONSIDERATIONSSite Preparation

✿Clean area -remove debris, rocks✿Prepare Soil✿Mark pathways and garden plots✿Construct beds✿Install Irrigation✿Construct pathways✿Plant

GARDEN CONSIDERATIONSGarden Care

✿Planting✿Watering, weeding, mulching✿School breaks, family vacation✿Plant protection✿Clean-up

GARDEN CONSIDERATIONSEquipment & Structures

✿Trellis, Arbors, Fencing✿Tools, Storage✿Buckets, Sprayers, Hoses

GARDEN CONSIDERATIONSFertilizers & Pesticides

✿Safe products✿Environmental effects✿Organic products✿Non-chemical methods

GARDEN SAFETY

✿Plant Material✿Chemicals✿Tools✿Supervision✿Physical Hazards

GARDENING ACTIVITIES✿Theme Gardens✿Stepping Stones✿Weather Station✿Composting✿Worm Composting✿Scarecrow✿Adopt a plant

Studying Soil

Beautifying the Boys & Girls

Club

Getting to know a tree

Stepping Stones for All

Planting Watermelon

Making Mud Pies

Critters

Daisies

Fun in the Garden

GARDENING ACTIVITIES✿Keep a garden journal✿Press flowers✿Make soup from garden veggies✿Start a window herb garden✿Make garden markers✿Propagate house plants✿Force spring bulbs or shrubs

Plant Propagation

Plantable Seed Cards

Making Stepping Stones

Painting the Stepping Stones

Painting Flower Pots

Planting a Pizza Garden

GARDEN THEMES

✿Alphabet Garden✿Rainbow Garden✿Big & Small Garden✿Petting Zoo Garden✿Pizza Garden✿Memory Garden✿Sunflower Fort or Bean Teepee

Pumpkin Planter

T is for Toothache Plant

Pumpkin on a Stick

GARDEN THEMES✿Bird or Butterfly Garden✿History Garden✿Geography Garden✿Research Garden✿Native Garden✿Variety Garden

✿Succulents, sunflowers, tomatoes

Entering through the Gourd Gauntlet

Rub a Dub Dub...

Petting Zoo Garden

Yum...Pizza!

Bean Tent

Sunflower House

Enchanted GardenZinnia 'Thumbelina'Zinnia 'Peter Pan'Grass 'Bunny Tails'Grass 'Fairies Joke'Cupid's DartBluebellsBaby's BreathRose 'The Fairy'Thyme (where fairies live)Bells of Ireland (hats for fairies)

GARDEN LESSONS

✿Entomology✿Math✿Art✿History✿Science✿Ecology

✿Recycling✿Nutrition✿Senses

✿Geography✿Natural

Resources✿Life Sciences

Doing some research

Looking for critters

TIPS✿Involve the child from the beginning

✿Planning -location, design, plants✿Planting, Harvest

✿Show, don’t tell✿Assist, don’t do✿Allow for extra weeds, broken

flowers, early harvest✿Have fun!!!

CURRICULUM

✿4-H Plant Science ✿Project Learning Tree✿Junior Master Gardener✿National Gardening Association

PROGRAMS

✿National Gardening Association✿OWLS✿Junior Master Gardener✿Project Learning Tree

Obee Elementary School

February 2000

Obee Elementary School

September 2001

People think it's only a garden,

With roses along the wall; I'll tell you the truth about it

It isn't a garden at all!

Of course it looks like a garden, It's all so sunny and clear ---

You'd be surprised if you really knew The things that have happened here!

-- The Secrets of Our Garden, Rupert Sargent

Holland

It's really Robin Hood's forest, And over by that big tree

Is the very place where fat Friar Tuck

Fought with the Miller of Dee. And back of the barn is the cavern Where Jesse James is hid;

On the other side is a big strong box That belongs to Billy the Kid.

That isn't a pond you see there, It's the ocean deep and wide,

Where six-masted ships are waiting To sail on rising tide.