The children in Preschool 2 helped plant some curly and flat leaf parsley in our garden. Our hopes are that when the parsley finally grows it will attract caterpillars. Last year my mom and I found caterpillars crawling on her parsley in her garden. I collected them and brought them into the classroom. The preschoolers and I created a habitat for them and we were able to observe the whole life cycle of a caterpillar all the way to a butterfly and then we released them. Hopefully we can do it again this year as it was a great learning experience for the children and our families. Gardening is a great activity to do and to learn about. Holding a small shovel or picking up a tiny seed to plant it in the ground are both examples of fine motor activities. Even grasping up a worm that they found in the soil are helping to develop fine motor skills. Which worm hunting happens to be a big thing in our room. Along with the fine movements that come with gardening, there are also many opportunities to use the big muscle groups. Lifting and carrying a water can, digging a hole or stretching to reach to the back of the garden bed which all use upper and lower body muscles. Dominic and Jackson commented on how hard it was to dig our dirt, which is true it is very solid and hard. After they did the digging they took turns spreading the seeds out in the space we dug up. Next, we covered the seeds with dirt and they took turns watering the freshly planted seeds. Fingers crossed we will see parsley start to grow shortly and maybe attract the caterpillars. Throughout the garden process the preschoolers can practice colour recognition, identify fragrances, and learn how fresh food tastes (right now we have chives growing that they can taste). Emotionally, gardening reduces stress while cognitively it improves attention and memory. We also planted some lavender which hopefully will give off a nice fragrance as it grows and it will be visually appealing with the purple flowers. We also planted two other flowers called Tall Garden Phlox and Beardtongue Rock Candy Blue Penstemon for some colour as well. There is so much for children to learn in the garden. From nature to nutrition, the garden is a brilliant classroom for learning about the circle of life. Love of nature in the garden, children learn about caring for the environment and why it’s important. They develop a love of nature that will stay with them throughout their entire life.
