Are your children eager to go eco-friendly? Then help their school or youth group enlist in the Green Thumb Challenge. The Green Education Foundation (GEF) and Lowe’s started this nationwide program to encourage indoor and outdoor gardening. Their goal is to have 10,000 schools and youth groups gardening by spring 2010.
It’s important to join as soon as possible, because the schools and groups that register before Dec. 15 have a chance at winning a gardening kit containing garden tools, gloves and seeds as well as a cash prize. Even organizations that have no idea where to begin with gardening can visit the GEF’s website and learn the basics. If you need some grant funding, you will find grant request templates and funding sources there too.
This is a great opportunity to teach your children about sustainability. It will also provide them with the knowledge on how to take care of plants. Instead of watching your houseplants die from thirst, they might be compelled to start taking action and wanting to care for these natural air purifiers. The basics of planting can also be incorporated into other school subjects such as science, health and math, so your children will broaden their horizons in more ways than one. If you think your child has a “nature-deficit disorder,” this will engage them with nature and reform that connection.
Even if your child isn’t in school yet, it’s beneficial to start an outdoor or indoor garden with them. Just from making observations, your child will learn and become familiar with this basic human-nature relationship. Although you might not be able to start growing a garden outside due to the weather, you can start by growing simple plants indoors such as herbs. Herbs don’t require much space or care, so they are a perfect plant for beginning gardeners. An added plus is that you can incorporate the herbs into your meals and teach your children how to eat a more healthy and sustainable diet.
When you start to break gardening down, it’s an activity that doesn’t stop giving.
