Young children have an interest in nature and a curiosity for learning about the things around them. In our classroom throughout the year we try to increase a child’s knowledge of nature.

At Perlis, our children begin their garden inside. Indoors the children plant seeds and bulbs in pots. They learn how to care for these growing plants and understand the growth and development of the plants. The children learn about the parts of a plant (leaf, stamen, stem, petals, pistils, etc.) and we talk about the shapes and sizes of various leaves and flowers. Finally, we talk about the importance of roots to a plant.

Another indoor activity that the children love to take part in is flower arranging. The children learn the proper way to cut flowers and arrange them is a vase. The flowers brighten our room and parents get to see the flowers when they pick up their child.

But it isn’t enough to stay inside. We have to get outside na dput our hands in the soil. Each spring, we plant an organic garden outdoors. We start our garden in March by planting seeds indoors. Before planting the seeds the children guess how many seeds are in each packet, and we talk about the color, size and texture of the different types of seeds. Did you know that pumpkin seeds are larger than tomato seeds? Later these plants are transplanted to our garden. We grow vegetables/fruits (pumpkins, watermelon and lettuce), herbs (dill, mint, lemon balm, garlic basil and rosemary), and edible flowers (marigolds, sunflowers pansies, day lilies).

During the school year, we put our food scraps such as orange and banana peels, carrots, celery, etc., into the garden to help us get rich soil in the spring. We add mushroom mulch to our soil in April. We use a ground cover to keep the weeds out but let the water in.

On the first day of gardening the smallest child in the school is taken to the garden and then the children begin to rake, label and water. Finally, we roll out the garden carpet and mulch.

Emotional and social advantages to having a garden:

A. Permanent — During the summer months students come by to check on the garden and help to maintain it.

B. Cookbook — High noon tea and food tasting. We pickle cucumbers from the garden

C. Vegetables are taken home to share with family members, and vegetables and herbs are donated to Mountain View Manor (a personal care home for the elderly) to use in the kitchen.

We have a children’s butterfly garden outside of the classroom door, which has a large plum tree in the center. The garden is in memory of our beloved art teacher, Gretchen Newton-Krieg, 1/18/66 to 1/1/91.

In the autumn we pick grapes from our organic grape vine and make jam as a practical life activity.

Here are some fun activities that our children love.

Spin the Pumpkin — Seat the children in a circle and put a circle shaped pumpkin in the center. A face is put on each side of the pumpkin and the children take turns giving the pumpkin a spin. As the pumpkin spins the children chant: "pumpkin orange, pumpkin green, spin the pumpkin so it smiles at me!" The pumpkin is spun until each child gets a chance to spin. After the game is over the pumpkin is cut, seeds are roasted and a pumpkin pie is baked.

Art: Paint rainbows and then have the children cut flower shapes from various colors of construction paper to create a rainbow of colorful flowers.

Flower sorting activity: Children arrange and display flowers and greenery. Materials needed: tray, assorted flower vases (two of each size and color), paper doilies, vinyl mats, sponges, various colors and shapes, pitcher, scissors, bowl, drying cloths and funnels of different colors and sizes.

Color-sorting activity: We use silk flowers and greenery. Wrap a piece of construction paper around each of six tin cans so that there is a vase for each color flower, plus greenery. With this activity children also reinforce their knowledge of colors and the names of each flower.