The Goddard School® of Waukee incorporates gardening into its daily curriculum for students twelve months through six years.
We truly value the beauty of the gardening process as we guide children in planning, planting, watering, weeding, and maintaining different types of plants. Every child participates in gardening at his or her level of development.
The Goddard School is dedicated to being as green as possible. For this reason, we utilize rain barrels to help us water our garden, and we do not use any chemicals in growing our vegetables.
Tips for Gardening with Kids
Gardening is something you can do on a small scale, but it will reap huge dividends.
Consider using small pots, creating garden boxes or cutting plastic milk cartons in half.
Let your child choose what to plant. It doesn’t have to be a lot.
Creating a garden with your child is an activity that benefits your child’s body, mind and spirit.
The body benefits from the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients found in the vegetables and fruits that you harvest. Pushing a loaded wheelbarrow or carrying a full watering can make kids stronger. There are several studies that show heavy work helps children to be calm and focused.
Gardening with your preschooler teaches them many lessons:
Teach Science via the growth cycle, understanding how to care for plants, journaling your gardening progress, and becoming acquainted with insects and worms.
Practice Math by measuring the growth of your plants, charting your results, and counting your seeds and harvested produce.
Develop Social/emotional intelligence by learning patience, tenacity, and the value of hard work.
Here is perhaps the most important part of gardening: you are feeding your child’s spirit.
Gardening with your child is a wonderful way to strengthen your relationship with your child.
Turn off the screens and spend uninterrupted one-on-one time with your child. Gardening teaches the responsibility of caring for another living thing. Your child will learn how to respect his or her environment by collecting rainwater and composting. Dinner time becomes less of a battle because little gardeners are more likely to partake of food that they grew themselves. Their self-esteem will grow leaps and bounds.
What parents don’t want those things for their children?
Connect with The Goddard School® of Waukee
For more information or to schedule a tour, please visit www.GoddardSchool.com/WaukeeIA or call 515-297-6555.
The Goddard School of Waukee is located at 80 NE Carefree Lane, Waukee, IA.
