Gardening and nature study

The new school year is well on its way after our summer holiday break. The children have settled in to the classroom routine. While inside everything remains the same, outside the garden is forever changing. We are at the height of summer in New Zealand. The bees are buzzing around the clovers in the grass, the fruit is ripening on the trees, the flowers are in full bloom, and the vegetables are ready for harvest.

The cicadas are singing all day.

The garden is an integral part of our preschool. Sun, rain, wind, wet, dry, fine, no matter what the weather is, we are in our garden every day. The children are dressed with coats (if needed), (sun)hats, gumboots, and an essential layer of sunscreen. They have unlimited access to child sized, proper garden tools; a rake, a spade, gloves etc. They enjoy digging in our garden and watering the seedlings which they planted a couple of weeks ago. They are also fascinated by looking for worms and insects, and they always manage to find some creature of interest.

Making a scarecrow is heaps of fun!

A garden provides many opportunities to cultivate children's curiosity about nature and it helps them to develop a love of nature. Together with a teacher, they weed, they water, they dig, they pick, they plant, they rake, they choose, they select, and no matter what the activity is, being together in the garden, spending time with each other, teacher and child, is a special time our children love.

Children learn how to harvest,

and how to prepare the harvested vegetables for consumption.

Gardening can be a basis for nature-study and provide many teaching moments. We teach the children the names of the flowers or vegetables which they grow. They learn their uses and how to cultivate them. They are taught how to prepare the soil, and the reasons for this. Plants need to "eat and drink", they need water, soil and sunlight. The children learn about the roots, the stems, and the leaves, and what their uses to the plant are. Each plant has its own form of flower and its own way of reproduction. They learn about pollination and how different plants develop and scatter their seeds. They can study the weeds in the garden and learn about "survival of the fittest".

Arranging flowers, appreciating beauty.

Flowers add colour and interest to the garden. Certain flowers attract certain insects or other creatures. These creatures all play an important role in the garden, the earthworm who is working below the soil, the bee who is visiting the flowers, the bug who is feeding on the leaf or the root, the bird who is nesting nearby and visits.

There are many opportunities in the garden for the children to study individual life and to become intimate with the plants and animals, while at the same time developing an understanding of the interrelation of all life.