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Re: gardening with children

Sharon, while not hour or less projects, do consider the long-term goal, and consider espousing the Schoolyard Habitat Program from National Wildlife Federation. which encourages planting Schoolyard to invite wildlife (usually birds, butterflies and pollinators, and occasionally some small mammals), into the schoolyard site.
The web site has info and small ($250) start up grants are available (Wild Seed, due Jan1.) www.nwf.org
Resources are often available from companies that do business in the immediate areas. They are glad to see the site improvement as well as the educational opportunities that come with it.
"Certifying" is not the critical goal, but it does create a sense of accomplishment for the children and teachers, as well as giving some guidelines based on research. Becoming one of 16,000 schools in US and Canada that are certified, also gives a good community of teachers and other from which to discuss ideas. There is a Schoolyard habitat listserve as well as lots of info available from the website.
While you specifically asked about gardening, not gardening with wildlife, I would urge you to consider looking into it. What better way to teach about the environment than through principles such as how nature and the gardening world cooperate!

I would be glad to discuss this more with you off line if you are interested. I just spent a year working with schools in Indiana through the Indiana Wildlife Federation to develop these wonderful outdoor classroom sites. It's gardening naturally, and so much more!
Lynn

At 07:43 PM 11/27/2002, you wrote:
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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