Sara Starbuck - Gardening with Young Children

Published by Redleaf Press

10 Yorkton Court

St. Paul, MN 55117

www.redleafpress.org

2014 by Sara Starbuck, Marla Olthof, and Karen Midden

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted on a specific page, no portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or capturing on any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio, television, or the Internet.

First edition published 2002. Second edition 2014.

Cover design by Erin Kirk New

Cover photograph by Marla Olthof

Interior design by Erin Kirk New

Illustrations by Karen Midden

Typeset in Berkeley Oldstyle Medium

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Starbuck, Sara, 1955-

[Hollyhocks and honeybees]

Gardening with young children / Sara Starbuck, Marla Olthof, Karen Midden.Second edition.

pages cm

Summary: Packed with colorful photographs and updated to address many childhood issues and gardening trends that have erupted in recent years, it reflects the growing concerns for childrens nature deficit and the obesity epidemic, and it provides a wider variety of gardening projects, like vertical, green roof, and container gardens for limited-space or urban areas. It also contains gardening activities for children of all agesincluding experiences for infants and toddlers, because even the youngest children can and should be involved in gardeningProvided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-60554-313-0 (e-book)

1. School gardens. 2. Childrens gardens. 3. GardeningExperiments. 4. GardeningStudy and teachingActivity programs. I. Olthof, Marla, 1970- II. Midden, Karen, 1952- III. Title.

SB55.S78 2014

635.083dc23

2014002770

To my mother, Kathy Starbuck, who gave me snakes, saved painted turtles, and never met a wasp she couldnt catch. Your delight in the wonders of nature was an invitation to a young child and continues to inspire me. Thank you for this gift. Sara

To my daughters, Haleigh, Taylor, and Avery, who love to learn as much as I love to teach. To all my past students and parents from the Child Development Lab at Southern Illinois University Carbondalenow that I have kids of my own, I realize that you taught me more than I ever taught you. Marla

To my students, past and present, who have chosen a career in connecting people with plants through landscape horticulture and forestry. We are all big kids in gardens. Karen

Contents

When we published our first edition of this book in 2002, we never would have imagined where we would be today and the changes we have seen in the years since we started gardening with young children. When we wrote our first edition, Hollyhocks and Honeybees: Garden Projects for Young Children, our work was based on our experience building and living with our gardens at the Child Development Laboratories at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Our work began with our roles there. Sara was the director of the program, Marla was the master preschool teacher, and Karen was a landscape architect and an associate professor in landscape horticulture, as well as the parent of two preschoolers.

We began our journey gardening together when one of Karens graduate students, Jessica Chambers, proposed building a series of childrens gardens as her masters thesis project. Jessica developed a wonderful design for the gardens, and before we knew it, families, staff, university faculty, and community members had joined in to make our garden come to life. Over the course of the next five years, the garden became a key part of our curriculum from spring through fall.

We initially wrote Hollyhocks and Honeybees to share what we had learned from that experience both because we had a lot to share and because it had been difficult for us to find quality materials on gardening with young children. We feel like we succeeded at that task. As we look back at our first edition, it reflects the work we did and the wonderful times we had at the Child Development Laboratories.

But we have moved on. Sara is now an associate professor in Human Environmental Studies at Southeast Missouri State University. She has continued to follow her interest in connecting children to nature through her involvement in many activities, including participation in the World Forum Foundations Working Forum on Nature Education and membership in the Nature Action Collaborative for Children. She presents regionally, nationally, and internationally on topics related to nature education. Marla is now a stay-at-home mom, planting flower and vegetable gardens at home with her husband and three daughters in northwest Indiana. Currently she is working to coordinate a raised-bed garden project at their elementary school. Karens daughters are both in college, and she is a professor still teaching landscape horticulture at Southern Illinois University. Her interests in sustainable landscape practices, urban agriculture, and children have led her to explore gardening projects on the ground, on walls, and on rooftops. She continues to emphasize the value of stewardship of the earth and the positive human response in supporting that concept as we plan and live our lives.

As we have moved on, so has the rest of the world. As we looked ahead toward this new edition, we wanted it to reflect the many changes we have seen over the past decade, including concerns that children are becoming alienated from nature, that they do not play outside enough, and that childhood obesity is becoming an epidemic. We also wanted to reflect a wider range of gardens. In our first edition, we told our own story. In this edition, we share stories from other people with different gardening challenges. We share ideas for people who live in limited space or in urban areas. And we showcase some of the great projects we have found around the country. We also provide more information for those working with infants and toddlers, because often these youngest children are left inside. They also need to be involved in gardening.

Most of all, we want to inspire teachers and family members to involve their children in gardening. Pick up a shovel or go buy a pot and some potting soil. Grab a packet of seeds and start planting. There is wealth to be found in the soil.

The first edition of this book was based on our personal gardening experiences with children. This revised version has been enhanced immensely by including the experiences of multiple diverse programs through the selfless assistance of many people. We never could have written this edition without their cooperation. Our gratitude to these friends, colleagues, and family members is immense. Listed here are only a few of those involved: