The Latest

The leaves are changing colors, students are settled into their classes, and now it is time to launch our annual Youth Garden Grant! Since 1982, the grant has supported school and youth educational garden projects that enhance the quality of life for youth and their...

KidsGardening and Hunter Industries are joining forces to teach the next generation of gardeners how to be waterwise! Educating kids about sustainable watering practices not only helps them learn how to conserve water but also shows them how proper watering boosts...

KidsGardening is excited to announce our newest e-course, "Growing Together: Developing Enduring Youth Garden Programs!" It’s a great place to start your youth gardening journey and is designed to help participants learn the basic steps to plan and implement a...

Sharing the belief that gardens have the power to grow more than flowers, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day and KidsGardening launched the Lots of Compassion Grant program to support local leaders wanting to transform vacant lots into spaces to grow people, communities, and...

KidsGardening is happy to announce our newest e-course "Celebrating Cultural Inclusion in the School Garden!" This free e-course supports educators as they learn how to center cultural learning in their school garden program with a new curriculum of lesson plans,...

With a mission to support youth in the areas of housing, health, hunger, and education, RSM and KidsGardening have been working together over the past year to help maintain youth gardens across the country and host a youth garden-build event in Seattle, Washington....

Water Wise Garden Grant San Diego elementary school garden friends! We are so excited to share that the 2025 Water Wise Garden Grant is now open. We are working together with Hunter Industries to offer the Water Wise Garden Grant to support public and charter...

We are celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week with a huge book sale! Treat yourself or your favorite teachers to one (or more) of our KidsGardening books! For one week only we are deeply discounting some of your favorite titles.Books are available through the...

Gardening is a ‘sense-sational’ way to engage kids in outdoor learning and play! With their incredible diversity of shapes, sizes, colors, scents, and textures, plants offer limitless options for designing a garden space to engage all the senses.  KidsGardening is...

2024 Lots of Compassion Grant Together, Mrs. Meyers Clean Day and KidsGardening designed the Lots of Compassion Grant to support local leaders looking to transform vacant lots into gardens to help grow compassion in their community. Now in our second year, we are...

Kids Garden Month 2024April is Kids Garden Month!  Kids Garden Month is our annual celebration of kids in the garden! Each April, we host a contest to celebrate kid gardeners, as well as lifting up the many positive benefits gardening has on kids and their...

GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant 2024Happy New Year; 2024 has arrived. And, we love that the beginning of the year also signals the launch of our GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant! The 2024 GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant, brought to you by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation and...

Giving Tuesday is not just a day; it's a movement—a day to come together and make a lasting impact. At KidsGardening, we believe in the transformative power of gardening to nurture young minds, foster a love for learning, and cultivate a sustainable future. For nearly...

Youth Garden Grant 2024Fall is our favorite time of year because it marks the launch of the annual Youth Garden Grant! Since 1982, the grant has supported school and youth educational garden projects that enhance the quality of life for youth and their communities. On...

In support of their Planet Friendly Ambassadors program, McCain Foods partnered with KidsGardening to build two new youth gardens in Wisconsin! Each installation included $5,000 worth of garden installation materials, plants, and tools. Now, youth at the Boys and...

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month!Here are a few KidsGardening resources educators, volunteers, and families could use to honor National Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15) through the garden!Fostering Hispanic, Latinx and Spanish Origin...

Budding Botanist grant now open!School is back in session, and so is our Budding Botanist grant! Designed to further the mission of the Klorane Botanical Foundation, the Budding Botanist grant will help our students learn about plants, explore their world, and inspire...

A Monthly Digital Content Membership for Garden Educators!I love your materials and resources! I find them most helpful as I dive deeper into my role as the school garden coordinator and more fully recognize the importance of teaching kids about gardening and nature....

Happy National Pollinator Month!! Why celebrate pollinators? For one, they are critical for the health of ecosystems. They're also needed to produce many of our favorite foods. By tending a pollinator garden or learning about the many types of pollinators, kids begin...

Is your school interested in a school garden or hydroponic system? School gardens are some of the best tools for hands-on learning and engagement, and our friends at Green Our Planet are here to help by offering two programs to provide schools and students more access...

Engage students in science learning through something they know and love – FOOD! We’re happy to share that the amazing Growing Food curriculum is now available in Spanish and English as a free digital download as part of the Seeds of Success Toolkit. Growing Food is...

The youth garden movement has grown steadily in the past decade as more educators, caregivers, and families get excited about garden-based learning opportunities for kids. With that, the number of national and state grants available for youth gardens has increased. To...

We are thrilled to share that we have partnered with Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day to offer a new grant program! Together, we’re announcing the new Lots of Compassion grant program, designed to support local leaders looking to transform vacant lots into gardens to help grow...

Our Kids Garden Month contest is in full swing! This year, the theme is "Let's Grow Together!" and we are looking for creative entries from kids about how they use gardening to grow connections with family, friends, the earth, or anything else they can think of!About...

A youth garden provides opportunities for kids to play, learn, and grow through plant-based and garden-based activities. But how do we design youth gardens to facilitate play, learning, and engagement for all kids? Enter KidsGardening's Landscape Design for Youth...

With a bit of knowledge and creative thinking, meadowscaping allows us to transform lawns, playgrounds, empty lots, unused paved spaces, and patios into havens for plants and animals.KidsGardening is excited to team up with our longtime friends at American Meadows to...

Sowing the Seeds for Successful Edible Gardens Edible school garden programs are vital components of robust farm to school initiatives. Serving both youth and educators, they build awareness of food production, grow an appreciation for local food systems, and...

2023 is here, and so is our GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant! The start of the new year means spring is right around the corner, and just like you, we are starting to dream about our spring garden. As you plan a new pollinator garden, draft plans to expand your irrigation...

How did your garden grow this year? Did your kids have a favorite plant or gardening activity? Check out this list below of our most popular resources for 2022 based on what parents, educators, and caregivers used the most.  Did you try any on this list?Top Activity:...

Looking for gifts for the young gardeners on your list? Or maybe adding to your own garden book collection? Here are thirteen books that we think anyone would love to receive. Scroll down to the bottom to enter our giveaway! We'll pick three folks at random to win a...

Meet a pollinator! From bees to bats, pollinators are hardworking creatures that sustain life on our planet. Our Pollinator Activity Book is packed with fascinating facts and fun activities to help familiarize kids with twelve of Earth’s most important pollinators....

Learning about decomposition can be a great way to introduce kids to ecological processes, sustainable practices, and more! Decomposition Activity Pack  This 11-page pack is teeming with information and activities themed around decomposition! Inside you’ll find a a...

Big or little, one or many, edibles or flowering plants – container gardens are bursting with potential and the perfect way to begin your garden adventures! Container gardens are an excellent way to dive into the world of school gardening. As long as you have adequate...

KidsGardening’s Flagship Garden Grant Program As the leaves change colors from green to red, orange, and yellow, youth garden programs are preparing their gardens for the coming winter. Some in the south are planting another round of annuals, whereas, in the north,...

On September 10, 2022, KidsGardening and PT Holdings hosted a garden installation event at York Center Elementary in Lombard, Illinois, transforming an unused grassy space into a school garden and outdoor classroom.  The garden build included constructing eight raised...

Garden Grant Focused on Biodiversity and Environmental Sustainability! With schools back in session, kids are checking on what their school gardens were up to over the summer. Did their plants survive? Is there a fun treat ready to be harvested? Are there weeds...

This August, KidsGardening hosted a three-part webinar series on grant funding to help garden programs understand what to expect when applying for a grant, how to make a grant application stand out, and where to find grants for youth garden programs this upcoming...

We are so pleased to once again work with our friends at Pactiv Evergreen to share ideas on repurposing cartons for use in the garden! Their new school program, PlantCarton Life offers downloadable carton craft and nature activities to inspire you to find creative and...

We are so pleased to be able to share our 2021 Impact Report with you. Our love and respect for children and their educators and caregivers fuel our enthusiasm and steadfast devotion to creating resources that allow millions of kids across the country to play, learn,...

Pollinator Garden Grant! As the Monarch Butterflies are migrating across the United States, and bees, bats, and other pollinators are enjoying the early summer flowers, educators are starting to plan their pollinator garden spaces. June is pollinator month and the...

An Eggs-quisite Garden Activity Pack + Contest Summer is the perfect time to get creative in the kitchen with your favorite garden-grown ingredients! That’s why we’ve teamed up with Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs to create a NEW Garden Activity pack that will inspire...

Three new pollinator guides! We are really excited to share three NEW native pollinator resources designed for both families and educators. Beyond getting the world to eat more fruit, Wyman’s has made the stewardship of our natural resources a top priority for four...

Need ideas on how to get creative with your garden harvests this summer? We’ve got three garden activity packs that will get kids inspired to cook, experiment, and make art with garden-grown plants and produce! Each of the Garden Activity Packs shows you fun ways to...

Project Seeds of Wonder (S.O.W.): Food Gardening with Justice in Mind is a food gardening curriculum published in February 2022 by Cornell University. Created for educators who work with young people ages 13-19, Project S.O.W. consists of 4 units: Cultivating...

Art Activities Using Natural Dyes (and a giveaway!) Creating arts and crafts using natural dyes allows you to transform the inherent beauty and vibrancy of plants into a new form. This garden activity pack will walk you through: The best plants to grow for natural dye...

April Webinars Don't miss these engaging webinars scheduled for April! Registrants for each of the following webinars will be entered into a giveaway! Giveaways vary per webinar.Ecological Gardening:Companion planting and other earth-friendly practices KidsGardening...

GroMoreGood Grassroots Winners Showcase Accessible Youth Gardens The days are getting longer, birds are chirping, and temperatures are warming across the country. Spring is in the air! Just before the first day of spring, we were excited to join our partner The Scotts...

Lessons to Grow By is back! In fall of 2020, we piloted a new program, originally designed for caregivers teaching at home or educators teaching remotely. Each week, we sent out an email with hands-on activities, reading, and links for digging deeper. Over the course...

KidsGardening and Kiwanis share the vision of creating a better world for kids, a world full of opportunities to thrive. Gardens provide an ideal setting and tool for nurturing kids — their bodies and minds — while improving the communities and ecosystems they live...

KidsGardening is thrilled to announce that the new Growing School Food Gardens Community is live in the Kids Garden Community!  With the support of the USDA, the Growing School Food Gardens Community will facilitate peer-to-peer learning opportunities, mentorship...

Green Our Planet is a non-profit organization based in Nevada that promotes STEM learning, school garden education, and hydroponics in pre-K–12 schools across the country. Currently, they collaborate with 100 programs across 16 states, with most of the sites being in...

Science and gardening go hand in hand. Explore the scientific method with your young gardeners and discover what kind of container gardens are best for growing plants! Our “Container Garden Science Experiment” Garden Activity Pack is the perfect guide.  While...

At KidsGardening, we celebrate Black History Month every February. It honors the legacy of African Americans, their role in shaping U.S. history, and the oppression they endured.  In 1926, Carter G. Woodson established “Negro History Week,” to commemorate the...

As the new year begins, we find ourselves itching to get outside and garden. Children and educators are starting to dream about what magic the garden will hold this spring, summer, and fall. Educators are scouring through the new seed catalogs to find the most...

The KidsGardening team is thrilled to be a recipient of a 2021 USDA Farm to School Implementation Grant. Our “Growing School Food Gardens” Project will leverage the brand new Kids Garden Community to form a vibrant network devoted to growing school food gardens,...

We love cooking garden-grown food with kids! Not only can cooking encourage kids to try something new, it also allows them to have ownership of what they make. Moreover, there are no limits when it comes to cooking or gardening - just endless possibilities. Each meal...

KidsGardening is excited to share the launch of a new educator guide - Discovering Through Hydroponics developed in partnership with our amazing partners The National Farm to School Network and The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation as part of the GroMoreGood Initiative....

Show your love for gardening by shopping both new and classic KidsGardening swag! This year, we are excited to offer socks, t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, and tote bags for sale. Each sale benefits KidsGardening - meaning each purchase will help more kids play, learn, and...

The header image above is from the Cheyenne River Youth Project, in Eagle Butte, South Dakota. They connect local youth to their Lakota culture and heritage through a diverse array of garden- and food-based programming. What is Indigenous  Peoples’ Day? This day...

We are very egg-cited for our partnership with Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs and to be sharing two Garden Activity Packs for the Summer and Fall!  Our Summer Garden Activity Pack includes activities for: Seed starting in an egg carton Egg carton Mancala Eggshell...

KidsGardening is excited and honored to host the American Horticultural Society’s 29th National Children & Youth Garden Symposium (NCYGS) virtually on our new Kids Garden Community tomorrow through the end of the week. In addition to the Symposium’s 30+ peer-led...

For decades, we’ve seen firsthand how gardens can be inspirational, safe spaces where youth can build community, gain a sense of place and learn skills that will last them a lifetime. We know that gardens are powerful spaces that can bring people together and provide...

This past April we celebrated Kids Garden Month by asking kids to share what they love about their garden. We had 365 entries in our annual contest and we’re excited to highlight our six school winners, each of whom will receive $500 to fund school garden improvements...

Last Thursday, KidsGardening joined folks from the Caring Center in Philadelphia, PA to celebrate the installation of a “Kitty Fairy-Tail Garden” in partnership with DreamWorks Animation and their show Gabby’s Dollhouse. The gathering, which coincided with Earth Day,...

April is here, and our annual celebration of kids in the garden is in full swing! This year, our Kids Garden Month contest asks kids to tell us what they LOVE about their garden. Already, we’ve gotten such amazing entries! Caroline W’s poem about trying new things: I...

A few weeks ago KidsGardening kicked off our 2021 grant season! Given the fact that we provide four different gardening grants for schools or youth programs, each with varied timelines and their own defining features, I wanted to provide a quick overview of each of...

We're excited to welcome Carrie Strohl, the founder and leader at The School Garden Doctor to the KidsGardening blog today! We (virtually) met Carrie at the National Children and Youth Garden Conference this summer, and asked if she'd share a bit about her work with...

"Mommy we have a new pet!" Recently my kids came home from an afternoon at their grandparents' house with a tiny caterpillar. It was called Dilly, as they were found in Gram's dill, and brought to our house because my youngest child was very interested in having a bug...

When I start my seeds in early spring, I’m full of energy and excitement that has built up over winter. At the end of the season, my excitement is replenished by fresh tomatoes. It’s that time in the middle that I find the hardest. The time when you spend most of your...

As you are figuring out educating or entertaining your children in these coming weeks, we want to be a resource for you. We are sharing some of our favorite garden- and nature-based activities and lesson plans. We are focusing on ideas that don’t require many materials, and oftentimes with things that you already have on hand.

Greenhouses bring back fond childhood memories for me.  I can remember going with my Dad to water at the University greenhouses on weekends and loving the humidity, warmth and just the way they smelled.  The lush, green growth was a welcome sight especially when the...

It’s the middle of the winter and for folks in northern climates the gardening season can’t feel further away. Even if you can’t get outside during this cold and snowy season, there are plenty of garden-based activities that you can try out indoors. Below are five fun...

This summer at North Wind Day Camp in Canton, New York, 49 curious and intrepid campers, ages 7-12, earned the Pollinator Patch created by Cabot Creamery Cooperative and KidsGardening. The free patch program was developed to help children understand the importance of...

Working the Room with Worms There was a look of surprise on the faces in the audience when I dumped out a tub of worms into my hands and started walking around the room, with my hands out to show everyone. “Do you want to touch it, or hold it?” I asked, holding the...

As many of you know, I spend half my week with the Burlington School District working with students on an assortment of food-based projects. And during the long Vermont winter, much of my time is dedicated to cooking classes and taste tests. Each month I pick a new...

My third-graders’ classroom science experiment grew into a school garden! That’s the short version of the story of how I became a garden educator, and why I have been a regular donor to KidsGardening for over 14 years. My third-grade class and I transplanted our pole...

Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs and plant a tree – these are some popular suggestions for practical steps people can take to help mitigate climate change. But the truth is, we are standing on one of the most overlooked, most effective and least expensive...

A couple of years ago, I shared my top tips for school gardens and one of them was “Invest in Your Soil." This was a lesson I learned through personal experience as the original soil placed in our raised bed gardens was of poor quality and had to be completely...

Nine years ago, Bobby Wilson retired from the University of Georgia (UGA) Cooperative Extension. While the norm at this time of your life is to dream of relaxation, staycations and travel, Bobby had a different idea.   He used his retirement funds to purchase a 5-acre...

Christine Gall, a hands-on garden educator with students from kindergarten through college, gives quick, fun previews, sample lessons, and activities (along with the occasional blooper) of the content in some of our favorite KidsGardening curriculum books. You can...

Compassion Flower Project Garden Guide We are thrilled to have partnered with Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day to create the Compassion Flower Project Garden Guide, a downloadable guide to help families plant the seeds of compassion with six weeks of simple gardening...

Feel the magic of the garden! KidsGardening is excited to garden with our friends at Gabby's Dollhouse! Whether or not you have a magical Kitty Fairy to garden with, there are many fun and easy ways to garden at home. Here are a few fun ideas to get started with your...

Join the Kids Garden Community!Connect. Grow. Share. Join a growing community of educators, families, and volunteers bringing the joys of gardening to kids! The Kids Garden Community is a new online community for gardeners like you. From garden ideas to do with your...

Garden Resources for Early Childhood Educators Gardening engages young children by providing a dynamic environment to observe, discover, experiment, nurture and learn. An adventure for all ages, the garden provides opportunities for young children to build strong...