Eyes on Early Years Volume 19 | Page 20

Planting for the winter months By Kathryn Beaney With the cooler months ahead of us, this is now a great time to start spending more time in the outside area and to plant some flowers and vegetables. These activities provide first hand experiences as the children plant and watch their seeds grow. Gardening can be used as a learning tool to cover many areas of development and can help children to take on responsibility and ownership. Try making it an ongoing activity rather than a one off ‘plant a seed’, the children can start planting seeds in small containers before transplanting them into the garden or larger pots. They will need to be very gentle with the small seedlings. Teach the children how to care for and look after their tools and use the correct one for the job. As well as watering, they can weed the garden and dead-head flowers. You can discuss why some flowers and vegetables grow better than others and why some die. Teach the children how to care for vegetables and how to know when they are ready to be picked. Children can think about where food comes from and what a plant needs to grow by photographing the process daily. They can look back and discuss how the plant has grown and developed. Children could also make their own notes, pictures or recordings. Even in small areas, fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, courgettes, tomatoes and herbs are easy to grow. Children need to plant, water and eventually have the opportunity to pick and eat their produce. They can cut or grate vegetables and make them into a meal. This enables them to see the whole process and understand where food comes from. They can turn vegetables into soups or casseroles, even very young children can wash herbs and tear them to put into a dish. When planting flowers, think about growing different coloured flowers, tall and short plants and herbs that the children can smell.