Planting a Preschool Garden

Back in November, I asked the owners and director at my daughter’s preschool, Kiddie Academy of Harmony, if I could get the kids outside planting in their garden. I had seen for months a garden space in the front of their school, but had never seen anyone utilizing it. Of course, they were excited and said yes! So I got to planning and made it happen! It was so fun, and I highly encourage anyone out there considering this to give it a go!

The Space at the Preschool

As mentioned above, the school already had a garden space. It was built when the school was built, but had sat empty all this time. It was in the design of an “H”, and each line was roughly 1 foot in width and 1.5 feet deep. The bed was made of painted blocks, filled with soil… and that was it.

I came ahead of time to check out the space and measure how much planting room there was. Since I typically plant with the concept of square foot gardening in mind, it was easy for me to calculate how many plants we could get in there. I weeded the area and sprayed a few ant piles, and went home to plan out our adventure!

What I Planned

Since I was going to be working with 4 and 5 year olds, I wanted to stick with plants that were fun, easy and edible. We would be planting during our cool season, so I chose a few edible cool season flowers as well as greens and lettuces. All plants that can take a bit of a beating both from the elements as well as the kiddos. And all plants that they could try out eating!

I also knew I needed to amend the soil with some compost, so I made a plan to go by a local organic nursery and grab both the compost and some seedling plants. I also brought some of my seeds so the kids could learn about planting both seeds and seedlings. Then I ordered and brought a few shovels and watering cans that they could share.

As well, since preschool kids typically have a shorter attention span than adults, I knew in the back of my mind that we needed to be fairly quick. I probably would have about 20ish minutes planting with them before they would get bored. So I calculated about 1 plant per kid as well as planting seeds and watering.

Planting Time!

I got to the preschool a little early, so I could set up and add compost to the bed. Then I got the first class outside. I had placed the plants around the bed, so I had each kid go stand by a plant while I talked to them about planting and how to do it. Then they all jumped right in! After we got all the seedlings in the dirt, I handed out cups of seeds and let them plant them wherever there wasn’t a plant.

Then we did something really fun: I had them taste their plant! Kids tried different kinds of lettuces, mustard, kale, various herbs, pansies and dianthus. It was funny to see the looks on their face when I told them they could eat the flowers! Some of the kids definitely enjoyed the eating more than others!

I came back another day a week later so I could check on the bed, and I brought along more plants and seeds for the second class. We did the same thing as the previous week, and once again all the kids loved it!

I spoke with each class about managing their garden moving forward, discussing topics like watering, weeding and looking for good and bad bugs. My plan has been to keep an eye on the garden weekly, and to get the kids out there once a month to either work on weeding or similar tending tasks, harvest or plant something new. I think this will be a super fun ongoing project!

Most importantly, the kids all had a blast! I had parents emailing me that their child was so excited and proud to show them their school garden. I so loved seeing their excitement in learning how things grow. It was truly magical!

Kids + Nature = Always a win!

Happy Gardening,

Dani