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Resources for Garden Leaders
For additional resources specifically for teachers, click here.
ACTIVITIES & CURRICULUM
Garden Mosaics: A science, environmental, and garden education program maintained by the American Community Gardening Assn. that combines intergenerational mentoring, community action, and understanding different cultures.
Interactive Plant Biology: A kid’s guide to the life cycle of a flower and more.
Garden Launch Pad (Kids): A huge page of curriculum and activity links.
HORTICULTURE & GARDENING
A Handful of Seeds*- Seed-saving and seed study for educators from Occidental Arts & Ecology Center
City Bountiful – 100 Years of Community Gardening in America by Laura Lawson
Bulb Gardening – Bulb Gardening is great for urban environments as well as indoor gardens. ProFlowers prepared this great infographic that includes a planting timetable for popular bulb varieties, hardiness zones, and other tips relating to bulb gardening.
Seed Saving Handbook – A comprehensive compendium about saving all types of vegetable seeds.
Beginner’s Guide to Seed Saving – a guide from Rodale’s Organic Life
Simplifying the Pesticide Risk Equation: The Organic Option – from The Organic Center
Year Round Garden Tasks Taken from the Creating and Sustaining Your School Garden School Resources …good for everyone growing in California
Using Plants to Bridge the Generations
GROWING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
Garden Fresh Guide – Sign-up with Burpee for this insightful yet fun vegetable gardening guide that answers your questions on everything from what to grow, to how much and when.
Inside the Edible Schoolyard: The Garden Companion
Kids Growing Food – Directors Manual for school gardens from New York state and Cornell University’s agricultural outreach and education program
EATING FRESH – NUTRITION
Cooking with California Food in K-12 Schools*- The Center for Ecoliteracy’s inspiring cookbook and guide for adding more fresh, local, healthy foods to school lunches
Diestary Guidelines for Americans– THe USDA revised food guide
Exploring Food Together Toolkit – simple activities that can be done in the classroom or in the home, to teach children basic concepts about food and healthy eating.
Food for Thought* – link to page to download chapters of a delightful preschoolers nutrition lessons
Got Veggies* – a youth garden based nutrition curriculum from the Wisconsin Department of Public Health
Inside the Edible Scoolyard: The Kitchen Companion*
Food Safety- From Farm to Fork – California Ag in the Classsrooms publication providing 5th through 7th graders a better understanding of food safety through real-life examples and enjoyable activities.
Harvest of the Month* – Harvest of the Month features ready-to-go tools and resources that provides educators, prekindergarten through grade 12, with materials to give students hands-on opportunities to explore, taste, and learn about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables and being active every day.
In-Season individual Monthly Produce Sheets link page
Nutrients We Need*: Activities and Lessons from CA Dept. of Education
Nutrition to Grow On – A garden-enhanced nutrition education curriculum from the California Dept. of Eduation, 2001
The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Cookbook – Winning recipes submitted to the White House by kids from all 50 states for the healthy lunchbox contest
The Two-Bite Club– A colorful booklet by the USDA to explain “My Plate” to children in storybook format.
CHILDREN & NATURE
Children & Nature Poster: Being Active in nature makes kids healthier.
Fact Sheet: Children’s health and nature
FARM TO SCHOOL RESOURCES
Farm to School Toolkit, from the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition – Resources for starting a farm to school program for school food professionals, producers, and distributors. Don’t miss the Toolkit Resource Guide.
Farm to School Assessment Tool, from the Minnesota Department of Health – A checklist for schools to evaluate their current farm to school efforts.
Food Hub’s Knowledge Base (see the “Getting Started” section), from Ecotrust – This library of farm to school guidance is updated regularly and includes user ratings.
SCHOOL & COMMUNITY GARDEN LINKS
KinderGardening, School, community and botanic gardens.
Edible Schoolyard: Pioneering school gardening program started by Chef Alice Waters in Berkeley, CA
Gardens for Learning; Creating & Sustaining Your School Garden* by the California School Garden Network
The Classroom Victory Garden Project: Created by the National World War II Museum, the Classroom Victory Garden Project includes cross-curricular lessons that teach students not only about World War II and the role of victory gardens, but also about health, science, and citizenship.
Gardens for Learning: Workshop Handouts* to accompany the handbook
Growing Community Gardens: Denver Urban Gardens’ Best Practices Handbook for Creating and Sustaining Community Gardens
Getting Started: A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms
Healthy School Toolkit ( Chapter 3: Team Up to Implement Your School Nutrition Policy), from the Food Trust – While this chapter of the toolkit is focused on building a School Health Council to advise schools on matters of health policy, many of the same ideas will apply to building a farm to school team.
Setting Up and Running a School Garden-A Manual for Teachers, Parents and Communities from FAO- the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Setting Up and Running a School Garden– Teaching Toolkit from FAO- the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Getting Started: A guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms
Resources for Creating and Sustaining School Gardens, from the California School Garden Network – Free handouts, videos, and other resources, including information on planning, designing, prepping, seeding, and maintaining a garden.
School Garden Checklist, from Let’s Move – A list of considerations for starting a garden, including site and plant selection, soil health, and design.
School Gardening Resources, from KidsGardening, a project of the National Gardening Association – Articles, lesson and activity ideas, classroom projects, and how-to-guides.
Step-by-Step School Garden Guide, from Grow NYC – A checklist for building community support, creating a shared vision, planning and designing the garden, securing materials and supplies, and keeping the garden growing.
The Edible Schoolyard Project, an organization dedicated to building and sharing edible education curricula, supporting an online network and resource center, and offering professional development opportunities.
SPECIFICALLY FOR KID’S GARDENS and GARDENING WITH KIDS
GardenABCs.com: The learning garden forum for educators, parents & community.
Gardening With Kids: A resource full of “how to” tips.
Involving Children In Children’s Gardens Farm In The City St. Paul, Minnesota: by former ACGA Board member Anna Wasescha, Ph.D, and Karla Ness, MFA.
Kids Gardening: From the National Gardening Association
MISCELLANEOUS TITLES
Sesame Street Body Overview – Teaching kids about their bodies as only the brilliant people at the Children’s Television Workshop can.
Rethinking the School Lunch: Are California Kids Eating California Foord? Discovering opportunities for improving school meals by the Center for Ecoliteracy
* indicates originally created for teachers but is valuable for everyone working with kids
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