At the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Child Development Center the children have been expanding their knowledge outdoors by learning how to plant and take care of a variety of different vegetables.
The kids are aged from one to five years old and by gardening they are learning where their food comes from along with other skills they’d need prior to Kindergarten enrollment.
The kids plant different vegetables all year round.
Some of which include lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, herbs, tomatoes and bell peppers.
The overall care of the garden is built into the curriculum for the children.
So they learn how to harvest the plants, which pests and bugs are good for the garden and which ones eat the plant, and about all of the different seeds and sprouts.
All aspects of their education revolve around the garden, from math to science, fine motor skills and even art. Tying gardening into their education was an idea that stemmed from the program Seeds to Success.
The UL Lafayette Child Development Center joined the program about five years ago and have noticed that the children have enjoyed it thus far.
The center’s PrK-4 teacher, Denise Hebert, commented, “The children have gained valuable knowledge from growing their own produce…We started the garden to help teach our students how our food is grown and that it takes work and dedication…It has been truly a rewarding process.”
After the vegetables are harvested, the children get to taste test them and enjoy them for lunch.
So while the children are working hard outdoors in the garden, they are gaining valuable knowledge that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.