Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/environmental-education-and-gardening-with-children-a-curriculum-for-resilience-empathy-and-health/5026478/
*Photos can be found in the pdf version of this article.
Imagine a school playground full of edible fruits and veggies, with raised garden beds around the climbing structures, a grape arbor above the bike path, and tiny mouse melons and giant watermelons climbing the perimeter fence. Imagine running out the classroom door, through this playground, into an open field, stopping to nibble kale, cucumbers, herbs, raspberries, and peaches, while feeling a light breeze and the warm sun on your face, smelling basil and thyme, listening to birds and watching bees in the borage. After an investigation of what is ready to pick, it’s on to the worm house and compost bins to check out decomposers or watch nesting bunnies under the Forsythia Palace. The Fairy Woods invite you to explore its trees, wildflowers and insects—all of this in the middle of an urban landscape, with the commuter train whizzing by down the hill, and the Boston skyline in the distance.
This is the Firefly Scientists’ Community Garden and Playground at the Lemberg Children’s Center, an unusual integration of gardens and playgrounds, and home to a community of early childhood educators, college interns, and of course, joyful, inquisitive children. Our garden is a ...