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SCHOOL GARDENS
Getting Started
If you haven’t done so already, get together a group of interested people from the school community (e.g. students, staff, parents/guardians/caregivers and other community members) to work on this badge. Be sure to engage the entire school community and provide opportunities for input as the work progresses. This will help increase buy-in from your school community.
Badge Benefits
Growing food helps students learn where food comes from and may spark interest in eating vegetables, fruit and other nutritious plant foods. There are lots of opportunities within the curriculum to incorporate garden activities, indoors or out, for hands-on learning. Outdoor school gardens have the added bonus of increasing physical activity and a sense of community.
Steps To Earn This Badge
Step 1 - Explore Your School Community
If you have a school garden, what is working well? What could be improved? If you don’t have a garden, is there room for one outdoors? If not, can you grow anything indoors (e.g., tower or windowsill garden)? Does anyone in the school community have knowledge to help you get started or expand your existing garden? Is there any funding available to get your garden project started? How can you maintain your gardens? (e.g., watering, harvesting, pruning, weeding)
Step 2 - Make a Plan and Have Fun Completing It
Use the information found under Learn more, Helpful Tools and Activities and Badge Inspiration to create a plan that works for you and your team. Involve all key partners and have fun completing your plan.
Step 3 - Evaluate and Celebrate
How did it go? How did you use what you grew? How did students benefit from hands-on learning? How did the school community benefit from the experience? Will you need a bigger team for next year?
Celebrate! You should be proud of your efforts to boost nutrition at your school!
Step 4 - Keep it Alive
How can you ensure a garden is planted year after year? If you haven’t already, you may want to consider creating an ongoing healthy school committee. You may also want to consider developing school guidelines or policies for lasting change.
Badge Inspiration
- Innovative and inspirational ideas submitted from schools across the province!
- Visit a local community garden or farm
- Give your garden a theme to make it more fun!
- Vegetable soup garden (ask your students what veggies they would like to grow in their soup next autumn)
- Pizza garden (ask students what veggies they would like to grow to put on a pizza)
- Rainbow garden (purple potatoes anyone?)
- Fall harvest garden (plant items like root vegetables that will be ready in the autumn so the harvest aligns with the school year)
- Start small- having one or a few classroom plants is a great start.
- Consider other types of gardens like pollinator or medicine wheel gardens
