Every spring the toddler room begins the exciting process of gardening. We usually start indoors by planting beans in Ziplock bags. This introduces the children to the basics of plants as we can see the growing beans through the clear bag. We observe the roots and the sprout as they begin to grow. Our beans didn't do great this year, but a couple of them did grow for us, so we were still able to observe them. Next, we planted different seeds into small pots to try to start some plants indoors. During these activities we had discussions about what a plant needs to grow; sun, water, and soil. We also observed the differences in the seeds. We planted tiny tomato seeds and big flat pumpkin seeds; along the way we planted many more seeds, and the children continued to be curious to observe the different appearances of each variety.
Once the weather was warm enough, we took our gardening outside. The children helped use the garden tools with an educator to turn over the soil and prepare it for planting. We transplanted some store-bought plants, transplanted some of our seedlings we started inside, and also directly sowed some seeds. The children helped to dig holes for the plants and learned to handle the small plants gently as they were placed into the holes and filled the soil back in. We dug shallow trenches for our rows of seeds; the children used their fine motor skills to carefully pick up seeds and place them along the rows. We spent multiple mornings working on this as there was lots of work to be done. We planted tomatoes, potatoes, beans, peas, pumpkin, lettuce, and nasturtiums.
With all our plants in the ground now came what might be the most exciting part yet, watering! As soon as the watering cans are spotted, the children rush over to volunteer to help water our gardens. Having the children help water increases their sense of responsibility towards the gardens, viewing it as something they help to care for. It is also a great opportunity for the children to take a closer look at the gardens, noticing which plants grew bigger, which seeds are sprouting, and hopefully soon which ones are beginning to grow us food!
