Gardening for Kids: Learn, Grow, and Get Messy with Fun STEAM Projects

Many Great Projects For Kids & Adults

Gardening for Kids: Learn, Grow, and Get Messy with Fun STEAM Projects by Brandy Stone

Initially I was thrilled with this book & for the most part, I do still like it, but I feel it could have been better. Perhaps I am spoiled by books like The Unplugged Family Activity Book and The Organic Artist for Kids. Granted neither of these books is about gardening per se, but they do still get the whole family engaged in the outdoors. I'm sure if you break down many of the projects in the two books I mentioned, they'd have plenty of STEAM components to them.

I suppose my biggest problem with this book is that too many of them have kids make nothing more than junk using plastic crap & paints. What is odd to me is that in one of the nice projects in this book, it teaches how to get particular colors out of plants & to use them as paints. Why not use these paints rather than conventional store bought paints? Isn't that more fitting?

This use of plastics & other garbage producing supplies are my only real complaint about this book. Shouldn't teaching kids about gardening go hand in hand with preserving the environment?

Now that I got the bad out of the way, let's get into everything that is great about this book & trust me folks, there's plenty.

The very first test is brilliant in it's simplicity & has been suggested many times before for adults to use to get a basic idea of their soils type. It is titled Simple Fizzy Soil. This test lets you see the composition of your soil. How much of it is clay, silt, or sand? Is your soil acidic, alkaline or neutral?

Another test gardeners have used over the centuries is the Sprout Old Seeds project. This is another simple project that teaches kids about germination rates & even includes a little an extra credit project to teach kids how seedlings (aka stems) always grow up & roots always grow down.

How about the Seed Tape Garden Design? Again, this isn't just for kids. Why buy more expensive seed tape at the store when you can easily make your own at home? This is a really fun project for kids as they get to learn how to not only create the seed tape but also how to plan the spacing of the seeds & then get to plant them & learn about their growth cycle.

Space Saving Spiral Garden is a beautiful project. You can make it however you want, in a raised bed, big or small. It allows plenty of room for creativity while also teaching kids how to plan to plant seeds based on different micro climates within the spiral garden.

Food Scrap Sprouting I expect if you have a social media account you've seen various memes with folks showing off their food scraps. It works & is such a fun way to teach kids about growing foods. It also teaches them how to figure out why this method doesn't work with all food scraps. My favorite part about this project is the one that teaches how to make your own sweet potato slips. After getting my first organic slips from an organic seed supplier (see resources) I have since made my own slips every year from the last seasons harvest.

Do Your Tomatoes Need A Best Friend? This project is all about companion planted. The project, like many of the other projects in this book, is brilliant in it's simplicity. What plants get along, what plants don't, how does a plant grow alone verses with a friend?

Assemble A Team Of Garden Superheros This is all about creating a beneficial insect garden aka a butterfly garden, a bee oasis, etc. This allows for ample creativity & enjoyment.

Worm Tower Soil Conditioner aka vermicomposting. This project lets kids get busy with worms making a worm home (what the author calls a tower) that is buried in the garden. If you've ever had your eye on worm bins, you know exactly what this is.

Garden Grow Pigment Paint this shows kids how to make paint using various plants, berries, etc. along with an acid. Kids can see what colors are created from the different plant matter & are sure to be surprised by the results.

Floral Studio Photography this teaches kids how to create their own light & dark back drops, & how to place their plants by seeing the results of their actions through photography.

Strawberry Salsa Science is a bit of a cooking lesson that kids can really get into mixing various ingredients to see how they alter the taste of a finished dish.

Note:
Above are many of the projects, but I didn't list them all. I only mentioned the ones I am particularly fond of & as you can clearly see, there are a lot.

Each lesson provides the STEAM connection or an I DIG IT! section when applicable.

For example in the "Space Saving Spiral Garden" project the STEAM connection is the following:
Spiral gardens create microclimates - areas where the soil moisture, sun exposure, & temperature are very different than in surrounding areas. A good example of a microclimate is a valley in a hot, dry desert. The shade in the valley creates cooler temperatures than the surrounding desert. Cold air sinks into the valley & gets trapped, creating moist air. Just like a small valley, the shady sides for a spiral garden are god for shade - loving plants while the areas facing the sun are good for sun-loving plants.

An example of the I DIG IT! section in the "Sprout Old Seeds" is the following:
Germination is the process a seed goes through to start growing into a plant. germination happens when everything is just right; the seed has the warmth, air, & water it needs to make its seed coat swell up & break. Seed coasts are a barrier to damage, cold, heat, & bacteria. They are adapted to their environment & protect the baby plant until conditions are suitable. When you provide a seed with the perfect mix of water, air, & warmth, you help the seed germinate!

The back of the book provides a 'My Garden Journal' page, a 'Gardening Lab Record' page, & a two page 'Gardening Assignment Chart'. These can all be downloaded as well.

Overall, this is a great book to help get kids off their bums & devices & back into nature where they can thrive. As a full time Eco Farmer I have directly seen the results of "city kids" on my farm & frankly, they loose their little minds & many actually cry when they have to leave. If that doesn't tell you kids need to be outdoors in nature, I don't know what does.