It’s hard to believe November is here! With the falling temperatures it might seem that work in the garden is coming to an end, but until Kansas City receives a deep freeze there is still a lot to do in the garden. Here are a few things to add to your To Do list. Harvest […]
Richardson Family Garden
This fall, Richardson Early Childhood Center of KCMO offered five 4 x 12 raised garden beds to families. With a Schoolyard Garden Assistant, these families will learn how to plant, properly water, weed and mulch. This will also bring opportunity to families to meet one another, creating more of a community feeling at Richardson. The […]
Preschool Spotlight! The Rainbow Schoolyard Garden
The following entry was submitted by Elizabeth Mckinney from the Rainbow School in KCMO, which has been a member of the Schoolyard Program since 2009. Ms Elizabeth is a parent and garden manager of the gardens spends a lot of her time weeding, watering and creating teachable moments in the garden for the students. It’s […]
One Year Anniversary of the Schoolyard Gardens Blog
The Schoolyard Gardens program is excited to celebrate our blog’s one-year anniversary! The SYG Blog was created with the hopes that it would be a place where our teachers, parents and students could read about garden tips, find lessons and activities that incorporate the gardens, and information about upcoming Schoolyard Gardens events. What we’ve enjoyed […]
Summer Pests: The Tomato Hornworm
The warm summer temperatures introduce a new kind of pest to the garden. The Tomato Hornworm starts to show itself mid- to late-summer and for 3 to 4 weeks they feed on your tomato, eggplant and pepper plants. The fruit eventually drops off the plant and burrows itself into the soil to pupate and become […]
Students at Hillcrest Learn the Importance of Watering their Summer Schoolyard Garden
Students at Hillcrest Christian in Overland Park, KS harvested sweet peas out of the garden. This was their first time tasting anything out of their garden since becoming Schoolyard Garden members last February. There was a lot of excitement from everyone, and one student remarked that he wanted to “eat all of the sweet peas” […]
Learning About Insects in the Garden: Harmful vs. Helpful
Students at Educare Early Learning Center in Kansas City, KS were excited to finally get outside in their gardens after almost six straight days of rain! I met the students for a quick lesson on helpful insects and pests. We started by looking at pictures of praying mantis, bees, wasps and ground beetles, reviewing each […]
Preschool Students Plant Their Spring Vegetable Gardens
Students at Richardson Early Learning Center were so excited to get out planting in their garden! They planted mustard greens, Sugar Ann snap peas and carrot seeds. While planting our garden, we talked about keeping track of our seeds by planting them in a straight line. We also talked with them about how it’s important to […]
Preschool Gardening Spotlight: New Young Scholars
The New Young Scholars early learning center in Kansas City became a member of our Schoolyard Gardens program in the summer of 2016. With no real gardening experience in their background, the teachers were nervous but willing to learn how to grow a summer vegetable garden. Over the month of May, determined to keep their gardens […]
Great Garden-Themed Books and Activities to Break Out This Winter
Winter is officially here and trips to your schoolyard garden probably won’t be happening until you plant again in March. Keep your students interested and talking about the garden with some easy garden-themed activities you could do in the classroom. Discuss what your students did and did not enjoy about the garden and have the […]