Hi everyone.
i am designing a product to help children to grow vegetables and herbs etc. i'd lke to hear about any of your personal experiences with growing things.
i have no children so i'd also like to hear whether you think children would enjoy growing things especially in a school environment. thakns for your help!

Well if I can remember that far bk to primary School.......

As a Science experiment, think maybe aged 8/9?, we grew Watercress at School, and I enjoyed every minute of it!

I can go into more detail about how I thought it was a good idea by PM?

Matt

I think this is an excellent idea, especially if the children get to eat the produce after harvesting.
Projects like this have a lasting effect on a lot of children and so many lessons can be incorporated into growing things, from propogation to pests, nutrition and even just the pride in seeing something they have nurtured come to fruition.
In a society where we want everything now, learning to nurture is a valuable lesson.

Originally posted by katljohnston
Hi everyone.
i am designing a product to help children to grow vegetables and herbs etc. i'd lke to hear about any of your personal experiences with growing things.
i have no children so i'd also like to hear whether you think children would enjoy growing things especially in a school environment. thakns for your help!

Gardening is one of the best activities a child can do!

Ideally it is best if they are involved with things right from the start, preparing the ground etc. Also they should be able to harvest the produce and cook with it, eat it raw etc.

Gardening is excellent, it connects them strongly to the seasons, they can eat seasonal foods, as we all should, it helps them with healthy development as they are doing physical and useful work. Nothing should be contrived about it, it needs to be purposeful and they should have the right tools, in minature if needs be.

Don't intellectualise it too much for them, let them enjoy just doing it, children learn through imitation so if the adult is a strong enough character and can do it well then so will they.

I would start with things that they can eat and that grow easily, then you could work on herbs then flowers for pleasure. Bulbs are good to start with now for very young children.

hi again
i also need help to get some children to test my ideas and product. if anyone can suggest anything? i am in contact with schools but they dont have much time for a struggling student!

I am willing to help you with your project. We are doing something similar soon. Are you CRB checked?

PM me

Would Heeley city farm be able to help you?

i have already been in contact with them so hopfully sorting something out soon!

I also think this is a good idea.
You may want to aim specific things to grow at different age groups, bearing in mind the short attention span of the younger ones - they tend to like almost instant results ;)
The older children will probably appreciate the actual 'doing it themselves from scratch' as Titian suggested. They can then see the process from start (preparing etc) through nurturing to finish (eating!)
Good luck with the project.

Originally posted by MysTique
I also think this is a good idea.
You may want to aim specific things to grow at different age groups, bearing in mind the short attention span of the younger ones - they tend to like almost instant results ;)
The older children will probably appreciate the actual 'doing it themselves from scratch' as Titian suggested. They can then see the process from start (preparing etc) through nurturing to finish (eating!)
Good luck with the project.

It helps to start young though and develop patience in the young ones. I grow with 3-7 year olds.

Originally posted by Titian
It helps to start young though and develop patience in the young ones. I grow with 3-7 year olds.
Yes that's true, but I found when my children were younger they liked to actually watch things growing daily, if it was something that was buried underground and took a long time to grow then they would lose interest.

hi
my product is going to be some kind of container to allow easy growing of a small selection of plants. i am designing it especially for children to use so will need to appeal to them. also thinking of having an inbuilt watering and maybe other monitoring systems so it can look after itself if need be as school holidays and lack of time may be a problem.
any comments on this are much appreciated!

Surely part of growing things is the "looking after them" can't the containers be small enough to be taken home in the holidays?

We used to take it in turns to take the school pets home, a container of radishes or salad leaves are much easier to look after than the class gerbil!

yes its certainly a consideration of mine to make it portable but then there is also a safety against vandals issue. thanks for your suggestions.

No time to read through this now.... but....I am a member of a school gardening group and I have 2 children who often garden with me. We may be willing to help you test your product . Pm with some more details.