Week One

Never under estimate ten five year olds. They are a community of their own. Today in class the kids built their community flower garden at the front of the playground at the Trumbull Nature and Arts Center. They pulled patches of grass and hauled it to the compost pile. They filled the garden are with topsoil and tilled in with hand rakes. They planted marigolds to protect the garden from hungry deer. While some on worked on the new flower bed, others added new life in the form of sunflower seeds to an existing butterfly garden on the property. Each child was asked to find a sunny spot that is a middle place between two plants to plant their seeds. They did a neat job digging the holes and being mindful not to disturb the surrounding plants root system. They also got plant markers to put their names on to mark the spot where their sunflowers would sprout in the coming weeks. In review this is what the Little Green Thumb program participants accomplished on the first day of class.

Compost: What is it? How do you make it? What items can be be used to create compost?
How to plant a seed: Why it is important to pick a sunny spot when planting a seed. Why we need to cover the seeds with dirt. How water and sunlight plays a role in helping the seeds become a plant.
How to transplant a plant: Why it's important to water the plants first in the plastic container. How to dump the plant out into their hands and catch it by the root ball and not the by the stem. How to hug the plant with dirt once it's in the ground.

During snack time I was pleasantly surprised that the kids were able to keep the topics of conversation on nature, gardening and the variety of fruits and veggies they like to eat:) The kids spoke about the gardens they started at home.

A treat was when Mark one of the Trumbull park rangers came in to meet the group. Each week the the kids will earn madallions that attach to their name tags. The madallions are fun bragging rights to family and friends of all the activities they works on in The Little Green thumb program.

I am proud of all our participants. See you next week!