Garden Sprouts is a program I run at the South Carolina Botanical Garden that is designed for preschoolers and caregivers. This class takes place once a week for three months every spring and fall. The goal is to share age-appropriate nature-based activities with children, who are mostly three to five years old, but sometimes younger or older. Over time I have learned the caregivers also learn things they never knew, enjoy the activities immensely, and are able to connect more deeply to the natural world through this program. The structure of this hour-long program is three-fold, we begin inside with a book related to the theme of the day, a walk or outdoor activity, and finally a craft. In this blog, I would like to share some of the books, outdoor activities, and crafts we have done in this class.
Not A Stick is a magical book that encourages children to tap into their innate creativity. In the hands of a small pig, the hero of the book, a stick becomes a sword, or barbell, or another equally useful object. Built into the narrative is a gentle warning about the risks of playing with sticks, which enables the adult to reinforce this message of care, while still encouraging play and imagination. What I like about this book is its simplicity and the accessibility of the materials for playing. Sticks are everywhere!
When we walk in the Garden, I often give the children a collecting bag. For this purpose, I use paper sandwich bags from the grocery store, these are typically only a dollar for 50 and are sturdy, spacious and toddler-sized (if you have more than one child, be sure and write their names on the bag). In this case, the goal for the walk was to find sticks that “spoke” to the child. However, as with many outdoor
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