Gardening with Children and Teens
Environmental education program at Centro de Formação Teresa Verzeri in São Borja, Brazil. Photo by Illène Pevec.
Encouraging children and youth of all ages to participate in gardening, whether at home, school or in the community, can positively impact their health, development and the environment. In this toolkit, we share research, resources and recommended reading to help children and teens experience the benefits of nature through gardening.
“Every child should have a little garden, a little place where they can love Mother Earth, and be loved by Mother Earth.”
— Joaquín Leguía, ANIA
Gardening in Early and Middle Childhood
Essential Reading
This list of books and practical guides offers expert perspectives and real-world solutions for bringing the power of gardening to children and families. Direct links to publishers are included when available; publications can also be found through online booksellers such as Bookshop.org and IndieBound.org.
Essential Reading List: Gardening in Early and Middle Childhood
Research Digest: Gardening with and for children
This Children & Nature Network Research Digest collects and summarizes the latest scientific research about gardening with children. Studies find that gardening can promote children’s physical, emotional, social, and academic development, as well as pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Children of all ages and abilities can benefit from garden-related experiences.
American Horticultural Society Educator Resources
The American Horticultural Society maintains Educator Resources with lessons and activities for engaging children and youth in the garden, whether it be a school, museum, community farm or other site. It links readers to other websites, including Green Teacher, Bloom!, Life Lab, Cornell Garden-Based Learning, City Blossoms and more.
City Blossoms Educator Resources and Guides
Covering early childhood through high school, this free resource library includes a variety of resources they’ve created for educators, encompassing guides, book lists, recipes, and instructions for garden tasks like building raised beds, installing signage and painting garden murals.
Dig, Eat and Be Healthy: A Guide to Growing Food on Public Property
This guide provides information, examples and considerations for working with public agencies and developing partnerships with public schools to develop school gardens.
Ecoregional Planting Guides
Enter your zip code to get access to a free, downloadable list of plants that will attract pollinators and help you build beautiful pollinator habitat in your region. Both U.S. and Canadian guidelines are available.
Junior Master Gardener Series
Junior Master Gardener, or JMG, is an international child and youth gardening program of the Cooperative Extension network, based in Texas A&M University. It engages young people in hands-on individual and group experiences to cultivate a love of gardening and appreciation of the environment. Their site offers books and curricula for preschool and elementary school students.
Kids Garden Community and Resource Library
The Kids Garden Community maintains online discussion groups with a variety of topical interests, including early childhood gardening, gardening with kids at home, growing school food gardens, and seed saving and exchanging, as well as regional groups and postings for jobs and internships. Its Resource Library contains links to guide books, curricula, lesson plans and activities for all ages from early childhood through high school.
KidsGardening
KidsGardening is a national nonprofit organization focused on creating opportunities for kids to play, learn and grow through gardening, engaging their natural curiosity and wonder. They support educators, community volunteers and caregivers with grant funding, original digital and print educational resources, webinars, and online courses to provide inspiration and knowledge to help get more kids learning through the garden.
United States Botanical Garden
The U.S. Botanical Garden on the Mall in the District of Columbia offers virtual field trips for grades 3-5, as well as onsite field trips if you live in the D.C. area. Resources available to download include lesson plans for pre-kindergarten through grade 12, a guide to starting and maintaining school gardens, a kit of resources for teaching sustainable home gardening, and manuals on greenhouse activities for young people and garden-based entrepreneurship for teens.
Webinar Recording: Just Grow! Gardening with Kids
Watch the recording of the Children & Nature Network’s online kids and gardening event featuring Kashon DuBose, Founder and Executive Director of Cultivators and Sonya Harris, Master Gardener and Founder and CEO of The Bullock Garden Project. They share the work they are doing with their communities, hands-on gardening activities that all parents, caregivers and educators can facilitate with children — even if they have a small space and poor soil conditions — and sage advice on how your family can get the most out of garden and farm projects.
Planting the rainbow: Garden-based education in the ‘Salad Bowl’
Finding Nature News feature
“I’m a scientist!” the elementary school students exclaim, flanked by the greenery of the Blooming Classroom as they triumphantly wave their science worksheets above their heads. These students are...
Across Perú, Tierra de Niños (Children’s Lands) create deep connections to nature for students and communities
Finding Nature News feature
Every child should have a little garden, a little place where they can love Mother Earth, and be loved by Mother Earth,” says Joaquín Leguía, founder of ANIA...
Celebrating the rhythms of life with the harvest moon
Voices column by farmer Mai Nguyen
In Vietnamese cultural practice, when a baby is born, we nest with them for a full lunar cycle. This practice is shared with traditions around the world,...
CitySprouts school garden program improves science learning equity
Voices column with Jeffrey Perrin and Jane Hirschi, CitySprouts
CitySprouts is a program for urban school districts dedicated to supporting science equity through garden-based learning. We partner with public elementary schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Boston, Massachusetts to provide opportunities for children to learn by exploring the natural world.
Sowing seeds for healthy habits: Farm to Early Care and Education
Voices column by Mindy Davis, Smart Start of Hanover County
At Kiddie Academy in Wilmington, North Carolina, children learn math by counting apples, conduct taste tests on herbs grown in their school garden, and enjoy lunches made of peppers that they harvested.
Little Gardeners: Home-Grown Connections to the Natural World
Voices column by Julie Cerny
One tiny seed rested in the palm of my hand as I walked around to show the small group of students, parents, and teachers. “This seed will...
Case Study: Perú | Asociación para la Niñez y su Ambiente (ANIA)
Video case study from Global Lessons on Greening School Grounds and Outdoor Learning
Based in Perú, the Asociación para la Niñez y su Ambiente (ANIA) develops Tierra de Niños (TiNis), or Children’s Lands, as a way of greening school grounds that are replicable, child-led, sustainable and educational. This case study is part of the Global Lessons on Greening School Grounds and Outdoor Learning project, a joint initiative.
20 WAYS TO CREATE A NATURALLY RESTORATIVE HOME AND GARDEN
Richard Louv column
Want to improve your family’s mental and physical health, and increase their creativity and learning abilities? Research suggests that a more natural environment can help. So start at home. Whether you’re building a new house or retrofitting an existing home and garden, here are a few tips for applying the Nature Principle. Your kids can help!
Training: Desourdy School Garden Mentor Program
The University of Rhode Island’s DeSourdy School Garden Mentor Program involves Master Gardeners who have completed additional school garden training. They provide training, design consultation and ongoing assistance to help K-12 schools create and maintain successful gardening programs.
Training: Master Gardener and 4-H Programs via County Extension Offices
In U.S. counties, the local county extension agent often runs Master Gardeners programs for adults and 4-H programs for children of all ages. Master Gardeners can be an excellent resource for gardening with children because they are required to do gardening education and can often be called on to lead educational workshops. You can also check to see if your nearest county extension office offers an educational program for teens wishing to grow food or mentor younger children in agricultural activities.
Read more about 4-H programs
Read more about Master Gardener programs
Read more about county extension offices
Training: Project Learning Tree
Project Learning Tree offers training and curricula for those wishing to engage in environmental education (including gardens) with children and youth.
Convening: National Children and Youth Gardening Symposium
Every year, for more than 30 years, this symposium brings together educators, landscape designers and staff at botanic gardens, community gardens and other nonprofits — all of whom are working to engage children and youth with gardens. It is an excellent place to connect, learn from others and share experiences.
Gardening with Teens
Essential Reading
This list of books and practical guides offers expert perspectives and real-world solutions for bringing the power of gardening to teens and families. Direct links to publishers are included when available; publications can also be found through online booksellers such as Bookshop.org and IndieBound.org.
Essential Reading List: Gardening with Teens
American Horticultural Society Educator Resources
The American Horticultural Society maintains Educator Resources with lessons and activities for engaging children and youth in the garden, whether it be a school, museum, community farm or other site. It links readers to other websites, including Green Teacher, Bloom!, Life Lab, Cornell Garden-Based Learning, City Blossoms and more.
City Blossoms Educator Resources and Guides
Covering early childhood through high school, this free resource library includes a variety of resources they’ve created for educators, encompassing guides, book lists, recipes, and instructions for garden tasks like building raised beds, installing signage and painting garden murals.
Cultivating Young Leaders: A Workbook for Growing a Youth-Led Cooperative Garden Business
Staff at City Blossoms created this workbook based on their experience over the course of more than seven years in developing their Youth Entrepreneurship Cooperative program. The workbook shares insights on recruiting participants, forming partnerships, designing meeting spaces and launching a youth-led cooperative business. It includes templates and tools to assist anyone who wants to connect youth with gardens and entrepreneurship skill-building.
Dig, Eat and Be Healthy: A Guide to Growing Food on Public Property
This guide provides information, examples and considerations for working with public agencies and developing partnerships with public schools to develop school gardens.
Ecoregional Planting Guides
Enter your zip code to get access to a free, downloadable list of plants that will attract pollinators and help you build beautiful pollinator habitat in your region. Both U.S. and Canadian guidelines are available.
Junior Master Gardener Series
Junior Master Gardener, or JMG, is an international child and youth gardening program of the Cooperative Extension network, based in Texas A&M University. It engages young people in hands-on individual and group experiences to cultivate a love of gardening and appreciation of the environment. Their site offers books and curricula for middle school students.
Junior Master Gardener Curricula
The Junior Master Gardener website offers two curricula for middle school students in grades 6-8: Operation Thistle, which covers plant growth and development; and Operation W.A.T.E.R, which focuses on soil, water and the Earth’s resources. Curriculum resources include guides for teachers and student activities, and are available for free on the JMG website or in a print book, which is available for purchase. Both curricula are designed to encourage participation in group learning and service learning, and enable students to work towards their Level 2 Junior Master Gardener certification.
Kids Garden Community and Resource Library
The Kids Garden Community maintains online discussion groups with a variety of topical interests, including early childhood gardening, gardening with kids at home, growing school food gardens, and seed saving and exchanging, as well as regional groups and postings for jobs and internships. Its Resource Library contains links to guide books, curricula, lesson plans and activities for all ages from early childhood through high school.
KidsGardening
KidsGardening is a national nonprofit organization focused on creating opportunities for kids and teens to play, learn and grow through gardening, engaging their natural curiosity and wonder. They support educators, community volunteers and caregivers with grant funding, original digital and print educational resources, webinars, and online courses to provide inspiration and knowledge to help get more kids learning through the garden.
The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Garden
In this article from The Teen Mag, a fellow teenager shares simple instructions for teens who are interested in starting a garden. The article covers how to make initial decisions about the plants and type of garden they want, keeping a garden journal, maintaining their garden using sustainable practices that avoid chemical pesticides, enjoying garden produce with friends, and sharing gardening knowledge with others.
United States Botanical Garden
The U.S. Botanical Garden on the Mall in the District of Columbia offers virtual field trips for grades 3-5, as well as onsite field trips if you live in the D.C. area. Resources available to download include lesson plans for pre-kindergarten through grade 12, a guide to starting and maintaining school gardens, a kit of resources for teaching sustainable home gardening, and manuals on greenhouse activities for young people and garden-based entrepreneurship for teens.
GROWING POWER: Urban Roots connects young people with natural spaces, food systems – and one another
Finding Nature News feature
"Being in nature - it's a luxury, right?" Paloma Cardoza, a child of immigrants, leveraged her educational background in habitat restoration to work with a major...
Farming connects people with disabilities to nature, community and a sense of purpose
Finding Nature News feature
Summer mornings start peacefully at 21 Roots Farm. When the youth farmers arrive, it’s possible to hear their footsteps as they crunch their way up the gravel...
RISE OF THE GREENHORNS: In Cities and Rural Areas, Young Agrarians are Transforming Agriculture
Finding Nature News feature
The new nature movement comes in many forms. Courtney White is one of the leaders of the new agrarianism, which he says reflects the “growing interest in local, family-scale sustainable food, fiber,...
Gardening for change
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota’s Urban Agriculture Initiative includes Gardens for Change, which prepares youth interns for leadership by turning vacant lots into community gardens and spaces where interns and residents can connect with the broader community. “We are not only making lots more aesthetically pleasing and growing food in a garden,” says Craig Taylor, Extension regional director. “We are connecting and bringing power back to the community.”
Case Study: Morocco | Global Diversity Foundation
Video case study from Global Lessons on Greening School Grounds and Outdoor Learning
Through an ethnobotanical garden at Dar Taliba Ourika girls’ boarding house in Morocco, the Global Diversity Foundation supports greening school grounds with an emphasis on ancestral knowledge, sustainable practices, and diversity and inclusion. This case study is part of the Global Lessons on Greening School Grounds and Outdoor Learning project, a joint initiative.
‘It reminds me of home’
CBC News
In 2020, 29-year-old Harmony Eshkawkogan, who is Anishinaabe of the Pike clan, helped start a youth-led garden space in Ottawa, Canada. The garden, run by the Assembly of Seven Generations Indigenous youth group, is devoted to cultivating fruits, vegetables and traditional Indigenous medicines in an effort to deepen understanding of Indigenous cultural practices and connect with ancestors. “When we started the garden, it was a good way to not only have the youth interact with the medicines,” says Eshkawkogan, “but also to get to learn about the different plants that our ancestors used to grow.”
20 WAYS TO CREATE A NATURALLY RESTORATIVE HOME AND GARDEN
Richard Louv column
Want to improve your family’s mental and physical health, and increase their creativity and learning abilities? Research suggests that a more natural environment can help. So start at home. Whether you’re building a new house or retrofitting an existing home and garden, here are a few tips for applying the Nature Principle. Your kids can help!
Training: Desourdy School Garden Mentor Program
Rhode Island’s Desourdy School Garden Mentor Program enlists certified Master Gardeners as School Garden Mentors. The program supports these mentors with training, design consultation and ongoing assistance to help K-12 schools create and maintain successful gardening programs.
Training: Master Gardener and 4-H Programs via County Extension Offices
In U.S. counties, the local county extension agent often runs Master Gardeners programs for adults and 4-H programs for children of all ages. Master Gardeners can be an excellent resource for gardening with children because they are required to do gardening education and can often be called on to lead educational workshops. You can also check to see if your nearest county extension office offers an educational program for teens wishing to grow food or mentor younger children in agricultural activities.
Read more about 4-H programs
Read more about Master Gardener programs
Read more about county extension offices
Training: Project Learning Tree
Project Learning Tree offers training and curricula for those wishing to engage in environmental education (including gardens) with children and youth.
Convening: National Children and Youth Gardening Symposium
Every year, for more than 30 years, this symposium brings together educators, landscape designers and staff at botanic gardens, community gardens and other nonprofits — all of whom are working to engage children and youth with gardens. It is an excellent place to connect, learn from others and share experiences.
Training & Convening: American Community Gardening Association
The American Community Gardening Association’s website offers online resources for starting gardens. The organization’s annual conference also includes workshops for those interested in starting a youth garden, and scholarships are available for qualifying youth to attend.
Opportunities for Teen Volunteering & Internships
Botanic gardens, extension agencies and some nonprofit organizations offer volunteer programs, apprenticeships, and paid internships for teens in the summer and during the school year. Volunteering can provide learning opportunities in horticulture, leadership development and career exploration, including skills in gardening, marketing, guest engagement and science communication. Check botanic gardens near you for volunteer opportunities, and check to see if your nearest county extension agent offers an educational program for teens. Here are a few volunteer programs to spark inspiration:
- Denver Botanic Garden accepts teen volunteers for a summer program, junior counselor program and special events.
- Brooklyn Botanic Gardens hosts a Garden Apprentice Program, as well as partnering with the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment High School to provide field-based courses, learning expeditions and a natural laboratory for project-based learning.
- Chicago Botanic Garden hosts a Science Career Continuum with programs tailored to students of various ages, beginning with the Garden’s Science First program for middle school students and College First program for high school students, and continuing with Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) for college students and Conservation Land Management internships for college graduates. The Garden also hosts Leaders in Training, a two-week camp for ages 13-15 that leads to volunteer opportunities to work with younger children.
- Through the Tilth Alliance, the Seattle Youth Garden Works program offers paid internships that connect young people ages 16-21 to all aspects of organic farm-to-market operations.
- In Vancouver, B.C., the Environmental Youth Alliance hosts Roots & Shoots, a paid 10-week job training program in horticulture, ecological restoration and plant medicine, followed by a 12-week work placement.
This toolkit was curated and developed with guidance from experts Illène Pevec and Louise Chawla.
Illène Pevec, PhD, has been developing food gardens with children and youth since 1998 in Canada, Colorado, Brazil, Mexico and Peru. She now focuses on getting trees planted at schools with student involvement.
Louise Chawla is professor emerita with the University of Colorado Boulder and a member of the Children & Nature Network’s Scientific Advisory Council.
Special thanks to Illène and Louise for their contributions and commitment to engaging children and teens in the benefits of gardening.
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