School Garden Trivia

Knowledge sprouts in the garden with this trivia activity!

Materials:

• Garden stakes
• Laminated trivia/facts
• Glue

Activity:

• The history and lore of plants provide a great learning opportunity for your young gardeners.  After choosing the types of fruits and vegetables you will plant in your garden, research some fun facts about them.  
• Type or write the facts on small pieces of paper and laminate them.
• Read the facts to students or have them each share a fun fact or story.
• Attach each fact to a garden stake and place it in the garden.   Not only does it help identify what is growing but it offers a little history too.

Check out these great websites for fun facts and stories:

• Heirloom Seeds Garden Trivia
• Examples:
• "Tomatoes were originally thought to be poisonous and did not gain acceptance in the US until 1820, when Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson ate a basket full of tomatoes on the courthouse steps in Salem, New Jersey on September 26, 1820.  The assembled crowd expected to see the Colonel drop dead.  When he suffered no ill effects, the tomato was on its way to become the most popular vegetable grown by backyard gardeners today!"
• "The radish was eaten during breakfast, lunch and dinner by early American settlers.  By the late eighteenth century, at least ten varieties of radishes were popular in home gardens.  Thomas Jefferson grew eight different varieties in his own gardens at Monticello."
• Ag Day
• Examples:
• "We are eating 900% more broccoli than we did 20 years ago"
• "The bright orange color of carrots tells you they're an excellent source of Vitamin A, which is important for good eyesight, especially at night.  Vitamin A helps your body fight infection and keeps your skin and hair healthy!"

Activity: Got Dirt? T-Shirts

With this fun and easy activity, children will make their own Got Dirt? gardening t-shirts.  The t-shirts will be perfect to wear while working out in the garden.

Materials

• T-shirts
• Fabric paints
• Paint brushes, sponges, etc.
• Water
• Paper towels
• Permanent Marker

Activity

• Before having students decorate the t-shirt, write each child's name on the t-shirt using a permanent marker.
• Give each student a t-shirt, some fabric paints and paint brushes.
• Have each student decorate their t-shirt with pictures of fruits and vegetables that will be in the garden.
• Don't forget to have them write "Got Dirt?" on the t-shirt!
• Place the completed t-shirts in a safe place to dry before wearing.

After decorating the t-shirts, students can wear them while working in the garden.  Students will enjoy wearing the t-shirts and parents will like that the students' regular clothes aren't getting muddy!


Work Cited:
Thumb Print Garden T-Shirts

Create Your Own Raised Bed Garden

Learn how to create your own raised bed garden with these simple steps. 

A raised bed improves soil drainage, allowing for plant roots to breathe better.  The soil in a raised bed will also heat up faster in the spring, and the soil will not be compacted since you don't walk on your raised bed.

It's never to early to start planning your spring garden and getting everything ready!

Grant Opportunity: Welch's Harvest Grant

Welch's and Scholastic will award two schools in every state with a customized indoor or outdoor garden package to teach children about nutrition and sustainable agriculture.

The awards are open to K-8 classrooms with a minimum of 15 students. The top five winners will receive a package valued at $1,000, the top 25 winners will receive a package valued at $500, and 70 winners will receive a package valued at $250. According to Welch's website, the award package includes garden tools, seeds and educational materials.

Remember that the White House's garden cost less than $200 to create. So no matter what, if you receive an award, you'll have enough to start a garden!

Applications must be submitted by February 6, 2010. Visit Welch's website for an application and additional information.

Activity: Shape Hunt

Description: Allow children to search in the garden and identify shapes.

Ages: 5-8

Materials:
Journals/Paper
Pencils/Crayons
Sheet containing drawings and names of geometric shapes.

Activity: Take your class on a "shape hunt" to identify shapes in the garden.

First ask children to name the types of shapes that they already know. Discuss the prepared sheet by identifying and naming the example drawings and names of geometric shapes.

Demonstrate how to look at plants, leaves, etc. to identify shapes. Tell the children that they will now hunt for shapes in the garden.

Tell each child or each pair of children to look in the garden and identify and draw at least six shapes.

Upon completing their hunt, gather again to discuss what types of shapes they discovered and where they found them. Compare all the different ways that similar shapes are found in the garden.

Depending on available time, have children go on a second hunt to find shapes that were not found the first time.

Work Cited:
White, J., Barrett, K.D., Kopp, J., Manoux, C., Johnson, K. & McCullough, Y. (2006) Math in the Garden: Hands on activities that bring math to life. National Gardening Association: Burlington, Vermont.