Article Link: http://www.exchangepress.com/article/more-than-a-tomato-plant-engaging-the-players-youll-find-in-early-childhood-gardens/5026660/
*Photos can be found in the pdf version of this article.
A garden can teach a child many things—the value of work, the virtue of patience, the gift of gentleness, and the knowledge of nature. But a deeper question to ponder is: what can a child teach ME, in a garden?
When Ferntop Nature Preschool first opened, gardening with the children was at the top of my list. Planning, preparing, and planting were the main tasks I had in mind for the children. Most days, I felt utterly defeated because my well-conceived plans did not work. Children were running around, digging wherever, and picking the green tomatoes off the plants that were put in the ground the day before. So much for harvesting juicy red tomatoes! I was frustrated! The children seemed to treat the garden as a playground, rather than a planting and growing place, and I felt discouraged by what I perceived to be their lack of respect.
As time passed, I intentionally stepped back and watched the children engaging within the garden space. While observing, it suddenly dawned on me that children’s innate urges to run, move, imagine, and play do not change when they step through the garden ...