January is National Baking Month!
Category : Garden Tips & Resources
Garden-Based Learning Literature Lists
GARDEN-BASED LEARNING LITERATURE LISTS American Horticulture Society/Jr. Master Gardeners Growing Good Kids Book ListGrowingMinds.org Farm to School Literature List. Includes books in Spanish.Favorite Books for Kids and Their Educators from City Blossoms. The [...]
Gardens for Learning – Guide Book
Gardens for Learning Created in partnership with Life Lab, Gardens for Learning is a comprehensive guide for Creating & Sustaining School Gardens A comprehensive guide developed by experts to be a must-have resource for anyone starting or enhancing school garden [...]
Harvesting
Harvesting Harvesting food straight from the garden is a powerful act. For many kids the school garden classroom is the only place they will experience eating “straight off the vine.” Students who harvest straight from the garden are often more adventurous [...]
Soil & Garden Beds
Soil & Garden Beds Our Resources VIDEO: Making Raised Beds and Using Containers (below) VIDEO: Soil and Bed Preparation (below) GARDENS FOR LEARNING: Chapter 7 - Planting Your School Garden, pp. 56-59 CSYSG TRAINING HANDOUTS: Download on botto [...]
Maintaining Your Garden
Maintain Your Garden Watering Your Garden Savingwater.org How to save water with drip irrigation and sprinklers. Dripworks.com Planning and sales of drip irrigation supplies BeWaterWise.com In depth information on how to save water in your garden. W [...]
Seedling & Transplanting
Seedlings & Transplants Our ResourcesVIDEO: Starting Seeds and Transplanting(below)VIDEO: Water Drip & Irrigation (below)GARDENS FOR LEARNING: Chapter 7 - Planting Your School Garden, pp. 59-68Life Lab's Choosing Plants and Planting TimesCSYSG TRAINING HANDO [...]
Finding Supplies & Budgeting Resources
Finding Supplies & Budgeting Resources Budgeting ResourcesDownload this School Garden Materials and Resource Guide to help you create a budget of school garden program supplies.School Garden Planning and Budgeting tools from Green Education Foundation which includ [...]
Healthy Fundraisers
Healthy Fundraisers Fundraising Idea ListsThe Center for Science in The Public Interest has a one page Fundraising Options Available to Schools a two page School Fundraisers Can Be Healthy and Profitable and a more detailed 70 page report document entitled SW [...]
Design Your School Garden Space
Design Your School Garden Space Our ResourcesGARDENS FOR LEARNING: Chapter 5 - Designing Your School GardenEducational Garden Design Elements ListPRESENTATION: CSYSG School Garden Design Element PowerPointGarden Design Resources Online or for DownloadAt Life Lab y [...]
Gardening and Fruit Tree Care Resources from the UCSC Farm
Gardening and Fruit Tree Care Resources from the UCSC Farm Garden The UCSC Farm & Garden has been learning, teaching and sharing best practices for growing vegetables, flowers and fruit trees since 1967.The following resources and video playlists have been cura [...]
Family Gardening Resources and Webinars
Family Garden Activities www.backpocketlearning.org searchable database of easy to do activities www.kidsgardening.org large collection of resources and gardening how to’s Looking for resources in Spanish? Check out this list of Spanish language garden-based le [...]
Edible Crop Planning
Edible Crop PLanning Webinar Life Lab Educator John Fisher shares tips to plan an edible crop plan for a school year calendar. This video was created for the 2020 FoodCorps Service Member National Training. This 15 minute video shares concepts and resources relate [...]
Raising Backyard Chickens
Raising Backyard Chickens Learn what it takes to raise your own backyard chickens. Life Lab provides tips about setting up your chicken coop and caring for your flock. This hour long presentation is shared by Life Lab Educators and longtime backyard chicken caretake [...]
Paper Pots
Paper PotsMake paper pots with your kids and learn about reusing newspaper to help your garden grow! Ages 5+, 30 min+ Reuse newspaper to help get your seeds started in a pot you can make at home with your kids. There is no need to go out and buy small pots when y [...]
Amazing Reseeding Annuals
Reseeding AnnualsI call them "amazing" because this bunch of plants has the ability to surprise and delight every year that they return to the garden! Self-sowing, or reseeding plants create seeds that re-emerge as plants year after year. Some gardeners refer to these p [...]
Education Outside School Garden Program Resources
Education Outside’s School Garden Program Resources – An Incredible Collection of Resources to Run a School Garden Program [...]
Whole Class Garden Caretaker Activities
As part of a University of California Global Food Initiative project that we collaborated on with UC Davis and UC Berkeley, we created the the following activity guides for undergraduates to lead local school children in garden caretaking. These UCSC students are part o [...]
Make a Weather Station
Incorporating climate science into a classroom or garden is a fun and enriching way to heighten students' awareness of the natural world around them. Weather stations are compact and versatile and are an excellent tool for teaching children about weather patterns and da [...]
Independent Stations – Caretaking and Monitoring the Garden
A garden classroom is wonderful space for children to "take ownership" of a corner of their school. Here are examples and resources for independent stations that contribute to garden caretaking and/or engage students in the scientific practice of observation. Many of th [...]
Whitney Cohen on Garden Based Education – An Urban Farm U Podcast
Whitney Cohen on Garden Based Education Examining school garden support organizations to promote natural world learning. Whitney is a teacher, trainer, and author with tremendous commitment to, and expertise in, inquiry- and place-based education; strategies for en [...]
Webinar: Innovative Ways to Fund Your School Garden
View the archived webinar at EdWeb Growing School Gardens Community www.edweb.net/schoolgardens. Life Lab curates the following resources at the Collective School Garden Network: Finding Funds for School Gardens at www.csgn.org/funding-school-gardens More on [...]
Summer Vacation for Your School Garden
Summer Vacation for Your Garden- Adapted from The Life Lab Garden Times, Spring 2003. Here are some ideas to keep your garden maintained during the summer so that your fall garden will be full of treats to harvest instead of weeds. Garden Guardians Have families [...]
Outdoor Classroom Management Webinar
View Life Lab and EdWeb's Growing School Garden Community webinar on Outdoor Classroom Management View the archived webinar here! View all our webinars. View Life Lab's resources on effective outdoor classroom management Presenters: Whitney Cohen, Education Dir [...]
Steps to a Successful Garden Workday
-by John Fisher Life Lab's Director of Partnerships and Programs This post is part of our Sustaining School Gardens Series Over the years I have led many garden workdays at the Life Lab Garden Classroom and school gardens across California. In addition to the obv [...]
Plastic Bottle Greenhouse
What a great example of repurposing, but do they work? I have researched a bit and asked school gardeners that use these greenhouses if they do work. They can with the right design. The following sites are the b [...]
How Do Schools Compost?
A senior intern at Life Lab, Savannah Rugg, created a composting in schools survey (still open!) to better understand how composting functions in schools and school-districts. The survey asks questions regarding types of composting, compost materials, compost management [...]
The Ultimate School Composting Resource Page
This post is part of our Sustaining School Gardens series. Attention school gardeners: A summary of nearly 70 responses to a school compost survey are described on this blog page. Check it out to see how compost functions in schools! The survey is still open and we wou [...]
Saving Water in the Garden
The newest sign in our Garden Sign collection is designed by National Geographic Scientific Illustrator Jose Miguel Mayo and demonstrates tips and tools for saving water. View all our Garden Sign Designs. Tips for Saving Water in the Garden Plant native and dr [...]
Fall 2013 Newsletter
View our September 2013 Newsletter View newsletter archives Program Updates Meet Faith - Support our Work Summer Accomplishments Announcing the National School Garden Network The Top Ten of Farm- and Garden-Based Education Garden Tips and Educator Resources [...]
Detergent Bottle Watering Can
Watering is an activity that kids can do by themselves, with little or no instruction. Having kids water their garden instills a care taking ethic. Kids love to water and having a watering can for every kid makes it even more fun! By collecting the right types of bot [...]
Spring 2013 Newsletter
View The May 2013 Garden Times - Life Lab's Newsletter Program Updates What We Have Been Up To Since Our Last Newsletter Meet our Senior Program Associate - Amber Turpin and her baby Hazel Update on the California School Garden Training Program California Foo [...]
School Garden Design Webinar
Life Lab's John Fisher led a photo filled webinar on School Garden Design as part of EdWeb's Growing School Gardens Community. Design Ideas for a Fun, Successful Instructional School Garden Webinar shares school garden design elements from school gardens across the n [...]
December 2012 Life Lab Newsletter
You don't want to miss our December 2012 Newsletter. In This Issue Garden Tips and Educator Resources Planting Fruits Trees and Vines in School Gardens Sustaining School Gardens - Funding Garden Coordinators Book Review: Our School Garden! Recipe: H [...]
Sustaining School Gardens – Funding Garden Coordinators
Model Policies and Organizations from Across the Country Written by Whitney Cohen. Life Lab Education Director School gardens are fantastic! (To be convinced, view The Garden, A Master Teacher) But that's not what this article's about, so let me start over. School g [...]
100 Plus Years of Garden-Based Learning
Check out the Chard those kids are holding!! And we thought that our 35 plus years of school garden work at Life Lab was a long time. Browse through these school garden publications from a 100+ years ago! There are some great illustrations and images in many [...]
Summer 2012 Newsletter
You don't want to miss our Summer 2012 Newsletter. In This Issue Garden Tips and Educator Resources Seed Saving Resources and Video Growing Questions - Inquiry in the Garden Teaching at a Farmer's Market Recipes: Zucchini Baba Ganoush and More Disc [...]
Seed Saving Resources
Educator Resources for Teaching About Seeds A Handful of Seeds: Seed-Saving and Seed Study for Educators - free download with practical information on seed saving in the school garden and seed history and lore. Fedco Seeds has a nice collection of resources [...]
Growing Questions – Inquiry in the Garden
When kids explore Life Lab's Garden Classroom, questions naturally bubble to the surface. Giant drops of water on kohlrabi leaves, gophers peering out of their holes, and hummingbirds drinking from flower vases seem to ignite their curiosity. In most residential garden [...]
Spring 2012 Newsletter
View Newsletter View Archives Garden Tips and Recipe Make a Human Sundial Edible Crop Planning Recipe - Kale Salad Program Updates The Book of Garden Projects for Kids Update on the California School Garden Training Progra [...]
Make A Human Sundial
The human sundial in our garden never fails to fascinate children and adults alike. To use it a person stands on the appropriate month marked on the ground and their shadow is cast on a numbered marker that tells the time. A human sundial or analemmatic sundial dif [...]
