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Re: gardening with children

Sharon, how old are the children? How many do you work with?
 
Some of the priorities for your gravel field could be starting a compost pile, for soil improvement, and starting plant colonies of the most important plants. Having the group plant a tree would make a lot of quick impact. You might have each child start a wildlife notebook with notes on animals and plants that they see in the garden area and how they change in different seasons. They should keep notes and pictures about projects they have done there. Before and after pictures are great. Collecting ripe seeds right off a plant and growing them is magical for some kids, especially older ones who think seeds always come in commercial packages, if they think about them at all. In Philadelphia a group of teenagers has a tree farm on a vacant lot, with help from adult coordinators. The trees are used in other city garden projects. Also, it's up to you to decide whether to keep the lot natural looking (even though it's in the city) or bring in containers and non-native plants, before changing the site. Another factor is safety -- is there broken glass, poison ivy, or anything else there that is dangerous? Are there bricks or stones you can gather and use for paths?
 
-- Betty Mackey 
----- Original Message -----
From: h*@direct.ca
To: g*@lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 7:43 PM
Subject: [GWL] gardening with children

Does anyone have any stupendous suggestions for short (one hour or less) projects to do with children, at-risk or otherwise? Or, can you recommend great books, websites or ???
I've just gotten a job working with inner-city schools here in Vancouver. Our first project is turning a gravel field into a 'natural' garden with native plants, berries, grapevines, trees, berms, etc. 

Any input from garden writers would be much appreciated. Thank you, eh?
 


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