Brooklyn Queens Land Trust

CHILDREN'S GARDENING

GARDENING with CHILDREN INFORMATION

community Gardens

With the population move to the suburbs, many of the inner city residential areas have suffered from neglect and misuse. Residents remaining in the cities are often faced with the realities of living amidst high rates of crime, violence and destruction of property. To fight this deterioration, many neighborhood residents are coming together to form coalitions to better their neighborhoods and their lives.

One way that neighbors are coming together is through community gardens.
Many neighborhood groups are forming community gardens in vacant lots, or even on rooftops. These community gardens are a great way to get both children and adults involved in beautifying the neighborhood community while working with nature.
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An introduction to the many ways children can interact with plants and the outdoors.

Some Basic Tips for Gardeners Working with Kids


A picture is worth a thousand words. Never tell kids something you could show them.

Young kids have a very short attention span. Make sure that you have lots of options available so they can get started immediately and stay busy. Digging holes is one thing that seems to hold endless fascination.

Instant gratification helps a lot. Plant radishes even if you don't like them-they come up in three or four days.

Growing their own will generally get kids to try eating things they otherwise wouldn't walk into the same room with.

GETTING DIRTY IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF GROWING UP.

Your role should be as facilitator, rather than as a leader who imposes direction. Be a good model.

When giving out supplies to several kids, try to keep seeds, tools, etc. as similar as possible to avoid the inevitable squabbles.

After an activity, do something to reinforce what everyone has learned. Talk about what went on, who did what, who saw what. If you can, have them write things down or draw pictures. If they're too young, take dictation.

Many kids who won't talk in a large group will often speak easily in a small group.

When working with older kids (past about 13), one-to-one works better than groups, since gardening (and anything else that could get you dirty) is a remarkably un-cool and disgusting way to spend time. Try to add responsibility and ownership to projects. ("Quincy is in charge of the wheelbarrow today.") Try pairing up older kids with younger ones. Rest assured that if you give them a healthy respect for gardens and green things when they are young, it will stay with them throughout their lives.

Children are very sensitive to lead poisoning and should take these precautions when working in the garden.

Lead: An Unseen Hazard in the Playground and Garden

Lead dust in a garden or play area can be very dangerous to small children. As they run or dig in the ground, children can inhale small particles of dust.

Hands, toys and candies dropped on the soil are also a source of lead.

E KIDS WASH THEIR HANDS OFTEN!

If lead is a problem in your soil, the following can help:


Build a covered sandbox where small children can dig. Small children often suck their fingers, so they should have a safe place to play, away from contaminated soil.

Always wash children's hands before they eat.

When eating outdoors, eat at a table. Wipe table or use a table cloth.

Weeds that are mowed like a lawn will help keep down dust. So will mulch or rubber mats placed over scuff spots under swings or at the end of slides.

Check the ground around your building for paint chips. Throw them away where children cannot get them.

Feed children before sending them out to the garden or playground. Recent studies have shown that if lead is ingested on an empty stomach, up to 80% is absorbed by the body; on a full stomach, the body absorbs much less - about 10%.

Help keep children generally healthy through a good balanced diet. One that is high in fiber, calcium and iron and low in fat will contribute to good general health and may help specifically by preventing the absorption of low levels of lead by the body. Some foods containing calcium are milk, whole or skim, cheese, buttermilk and yogurt. Foods that have high iron content are lean beef, lamb, liver, kale, spinach, swiss chard, watercress, and turnip and beet greens.

If children will be actively gardening, consider planting in raised beds filled with clean soil and compost. Give kids their own work gloves to wear while gardening.

Have children ages 1-6 tested yearly for lead. This can be done at a public clinic or through a private physician.

Information originally provided by the American Community Gardening Association.


Kid-Friendly Plants

Balloon Flower
Grape Hyacinth
Lambs Ear
Sunflower

MONTHLY CHORES

JANUARY

Siberian Squill (Scilla sibirica)
Zones 2 to 8

Squill are small bulbs (six inches or less) that are very hardy and naturalize easily. They do well in the Sun or the Shade These plants come back to grow every year and are called perennials.


The Siberian Squill are late winter/early spring blooming small blue bulbs. The Siberian Squill is one of many different types of skill (including pink, purple, lavendar and white) and is small. The blue Squill have a clear bright blue color and hang from slender stems like a tiny bells. They grow from 6 to 12 inches tall and have ribbonlike leaves. Squill work well in rock gardens, in pots and under trees. If you plant squill where you want them to grow and where they are comfortable, they will naturalize and grow happily without division. Plant about 3 to 4 inches deep and space 8 to 10 inches apart. Squill can live in full Sun or in deep Shade!
They look great when planted in drifts (a bunch of them together.)
Children's Gardening - January
The blooming time is usually about two or three weeks. The soil needs to be rich with lots of compost. The leaves or foliage die back in the summertime. The seeds are kept in a capsule that starts out green but turns brown and holds alot.

The flowers are fragrant (smell good) and lots of bees like them...so be careful about sticking your nose in or on them for a smell.

It grows with one flower on its stem and it seems to nod like it's taking a nap. The leaves are shiny green. If kept too wet, it will rot at the top.

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FEBRUARY

Glory-of-the-Snow Chionodoxa luciliae Zones 3 to 10

Glory-of-the-Snow bloom in early Spring. They look best planted in big groups Glory-of-the-Snow is a small bulb that likes to bloom right after Crocus appear.

Glory-of-the-Snow likes cold weather best, it peeks out in the coldest weather to welcome Spring. There are up to 8 to 10 1 inch flowers to each short 6 inch stem, in a sparkling violet-blue with a white center.

Glory-of-the-Snow look wonderful in rock gardens, under trees and mixed in among other miniature Spring bulbs. In light shade they can bloom up to 3 or 4 weeks. They grow best in well-drained soil, space them 1 to 3 inches apart and at a depth of 3 inches.

Plant them in early Fall. Glory-of-the-
Snow do not need much care after they are planted, they usually sow seeds and slowly spread in the garden.

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MARCH

Primrose Primula polyantha
Zones: 3-11

The Primrose comes in many colors:
Lavender, Orange, Pink, Purple,
Red, White and Yellow.

It's a good flower for Spring because:
It blooms in cold weather
It looks good in flower pots

The Primrose comes in a rainbow of colors and are often a sign of Spring. They look good with Spring blooming bulbs. The many different kinds of Primroses provide instant color in late Winter through Spring.

Primroses are short-lived Perennials, most people replant them every year just like Annuals. They attract butterflies! Primroses are easy to grow in shade or partial sun and moist soil. They don't like Winter dampness or Summer heat. They bloom in late Winter to mid-Spring, and can grow from 10 inches to 1 foot tall.

You can start planting them while it's still Winter. The bright colors are a happy reminder that Spring is almost here!


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GARDEN CRAFTS

Apple Ladybug Recipe

What You'll Need:

An apple
Raisins
2 toothpicks
Peanut butter

THIS IS How:

1. Have an adult cut off an apple slice that is a little smaller than half the apple.

2. Stick the toothpicks next to each other in the front of the apple slice.

3. Outline the wings using peanut butter: make a straight line of peanut butter across the middle and a line of peanut butter from the middle straight down the back.

4. Use peanut butter to stick the raisins on for the eyes and spots on the wings.

5. Enjoy!!!

Submitted by Amy

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Science Experiment

Color a Flower

What You'll Need

White flowers
A vase of water
Food coloring

THIS IS HOW:

1. Put a white carnation or daisy in a vase with 1/2 cup of water.

2. Mix 10 or more drops of food coloring into the water.

3. Leave the flower overnight, and you'll see the petals change colors. If you leave the flower in the colored water longer, more color will fill the petals.

The food coloring travels up through the stem by capillary action and leaks into the flower's petals. If you look closely at the petals you can see the path that the food color and water travel.

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Homemade Greenhouse

What You'll Need

Tray of grass or growing seeds
Jar

HOW:

1. Place the jar over a patch of grass or a section of your plant tray of seeds.
2. Watch the plants under the jar grow taller and faster than the ones outside.

Why?
The jar creates a greenhouse, which provides a warmer and moister atmosphere for growing plants. The light and heat from the sun go through the glass and heat the air inside, and the heat cannot escape very easily.

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CHILDREN AND GARDENING

Texas A&M - kinder-GARDENING
United States Department of Agriculture for Kids
MI PRIMER JARDIN - Fundamentos de Jardiner?­a