“Love your Environment! Love your Garden!” It seems that the best place for your kids these days is outside. A collective parental Phew! might be being heard across the country after that revelation, but its true, and there is an online site dedicated to this very ethos. Formed by The Recycle Works Limited, the home of Gardening with Children has been plotted out to serve as an interactive fun zone for any child of the 21st century.
For children, teachers and all family members, this website has been designed to encourage our children’s interaction with the soil around them. It has aligned itself with the developments happening within National Curriculum at key stages 1, 2, 3, and 4, and is a really inventive way to branch out and sustain those essential skills that children in any school will be rolling up their sleeves for.
“We want to share the experiences of Flagship Schools as even the smallest schools use interactive white boards in class and as many children do their homework online,” says Gardening with Children’s website “our aim is for this site to become an invaluable resource for obtaining information in relation to gardening with children.”
And it’s clear to see how well the site works. It encourages a network of online users to get outside and put what they’re learning to good use. The balance of theory and practise is delivered in bitesized, digestible segments that will keep you and your kids energised whilst out on the allotment or digging in the backgarden.
The ‘Kids Zone’ has been broken down into three great sections: Fun & Games, which has been carefully selected into a variety of age ranges to help challenge your child in the best way possible; Fascinating Facts, which does exactly what it says on the tin and helps to stimulate your child’s overall understanding of how, for instance, worming works, or why it is better to eat healthier foods; and finally, a Competition section – regularly updated with ongoing competitions for your young ones to enter. It is a great tool for your child’s development:
“As we all know and perhaps remember from our own childhood, memorable learning experiences can stay with us throughout our lives and can really influence the adult that we become.
School gardening projects are a great way to get children exercising out in the fresh air, and the Government’s Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto, launched in 2006 recognised the importance of young people experiencing the world beyond the classroom as part of the learning and development.”
The Family Zone and School Zones are set out in the same way so, once ready, your child can start to navigate his or her way through the web pages, picking up handy tips, facts and little discoveries along the way.
In no time at all you’ll see the varied usages for this site, and its interactive qualities will have you bookmarking it as a regular favourite. All you will have to make sure is that you and your kids take off your wellies and wash your hands before logging on each time and learning more about how gardening can encourage local ecology.
For further information and to visit the Gardening with Children’s website, click here.
