Findings

I learned that from the first child focus groups, most children had some limited knowledge of gardening from the experiences they took part in last year at nursery and some children told me they do gardening at home. When asked about what they wanted to plant in the nursery garden, I received a wide variety of answers, from trees, blue, red, green flowers, fruits, vegetables but one answer stood out from a little girl who told me, “Pumpkins, I can cook the pumpkin seeds, and make a Jack o Lantern for Halloween”. This child was talking about seasonal planting, obtaining pumpkins which would be available in autumn time.

Although the children could tell me what they wanted to grow in the garden, they needed some prompting and support to talk about what a seed needed to help it grow. I completed a Leuven scale form following the first focus group with the children averaging around 2 to 3 for wellbeing and involvement. It considered how interested they were in the discussion, did they seem happy to participate, and how much information were they contributing to the discussion. Following a series of planting activities throughout the week, such as reading planting and growing books, and concentrating on our book of the moment, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, we planted our own ‘magic’ beans into zip lock bags using damp kitchen paper and stuck them to the window. After a few days, they could see the roots and shoots of the beans beginning to grow. The bags at the top of the window were growing more, one child stated, “that’s the biggest, it’s near the sun”. Another Leuven scale was completed at the end of the week where the children were now averaging between 3 and 4 for wellbeing and involvement. It was interesting to see them going back to their beans throughout the week to ‘check’ on them, looking at how much they had grown and asking to water them with the “little watering can”. These activities demonstrated various learning taking place such as nature and growing, social development, responsibility and caring for another living thing, numeracy, and science to name a few.

From the parent and practitioner workshop, I received a lot of valuable insight and ideas on ways to keep children interested in gardening throughout the colder months. I had the expertise of one parent who worked in a local garden centre who suggested mini grower sessions where they do a grow reward card for families and would be willing to do some sessions with our children at the nursery. She also suggested investing in warming fleeces to keep the plants warm, vegetable trugs and poly tunnels which would be big enough for the children to work inside them to keep warm too. Another parent had researched the benefits of gardening with children and was able to provide some varied examples of the many benefits such as providing the children with an awareness of healthy foods and where they come from, taking into consideration science through photosynthesis. She suggested creating an outdoor chalk board to show the children the process of growth. Another parent spoke about her child’s experiences they have had growing in their garden stating that Grandparents tend to do most of the gardening because they have a greenhouse which her child loves and she particularly loves helping to weed, which is an activity which can be carried out all year round. We discussed the importance of allowing the children to experience the garden in all seasons so that they could see the effect of the changing seasons on the garden and make connections to life cycles and decay in meaningful ways.

One EYO and our PEYO attended the workshop, and I distributed a copy of the topics we would be discussing to the other EYO who couldn’t attend. Discussions determined that we practitioners understand the endless benefits of gardening on child development but there is a need to find out more about what to plant and when. The PEYO discussed the food for thought initiative she has been involved in, explaining that it links to our improvement plan with a priority of working in partnership with the community and families to build positive relationships. Through this initiative, we spoke about gardening and the possibility of involving the community to support growing our own fruit and vegetables organically then to use them to prepare healthy meals for our families through a parental engagement group. This will not only help to build positive relationships, but it will also help adults and children obtain skills for life.

Conclusion

In conclusion, my findings determined that there are many benefits to providing regular gardening experiences on children’s development, and I was provided with numerous examples of how gardening also has a positive impact on their health and wellbeing. The child focus groups offered further understanding on what matters to the child, and it was noted that there was a need for seasonal planting to obtain pumpkins for Halloween. With engagement levels increasing following planting experiences, this confirmed the importance of continuing these experiences throughout the full year.

Through the practitioner and parent workshop, I was able provided with valuable ideas and suggestions on how planting and growing experiences can be continued throughout the full year and there was the possibility to link with a local garden centre to provide mini grower sessions. Discussions also highlighted a need for further training and research on what to plant and when.  My purpose in undertaking this work was to find out why facilitating full year planting experiences is key to improving learning outcomes for children and I feel that the evidence gained has proven that it is vital.  The findings will now be shared with the management team and a joint action plan will now be formulated to ensure planting is sustained throughout the full year.