March 2, 2023 at 8:48 a.m.
Fish like a girl: Gardening with kids can be eye opening
Fish like a girl: Gardening with kids can be eye opening
First, I do have to say I was so impressed with these kids. Most of them are home schooled. I will say, when home schooling first became - popular, I guess you might call it? I was not a believer. I do not know why, but I felt like it would just be a good excuse for kids to stay home and not learn anything. My niece home schools her kids, but I felt like she would be the exception rather than the rule. Her kids are smart, funny, engaged, caring and in general just great people. But I still was still a bit of a doubter. I have to say, though, the two classes I spent with different groups of kids, that I was completely off base. I could not believe the ideas some of the kids came up with and some of the experiences they have already had. They lead such rich lives, and it was really cool to see.
"We would need a permit for that," was not over the head of even the youngest in the group, a cute little kindergarten-aged girl. One of the ideas one of the kids thought to add to the garden was a swimming pool. Another thought a petting zoo would be a good idea. They are, of course, great ideas, but not something we could simply just "do." So I explained a little bit about why we have to have permits for certain things and the rules we would need to follow. They totally picked it up much easier than I thought. I told them permits were things that made sure that people followed the rules for certain things they wanted to build and some of them made sure the environment stayed protected.
"People should just always do the right things and do good things, and we wouldn't have to have permits," said one of the older kids. "Out of the mouths of babes," as the expression goes. The comment made me smile, and I told her I agreed completely.
I first asked the kids what color flowers they wanted to see in the pollinator gardens. The suggestions started off slow, but soon we had a list of all of the colors in the rainbow, as one student put it. One student just asked that we not have any brown flowers because he did not like brown. I told him I thought we could accommodate him. In both groups, they said they wanted super colorful gardens where they could go to watch butterflies and caterpillars and all kinds of insects. They knew quite a bit about attracting butterflies, which was a pleasant surprise.
I was also interested to learn that several of the kids had a bat house at their home, or had helped build a bat house. Those who did not were excited by the possibility. We will have access to an area that will be a great place for a bat house, so I told them we would make one this summer and they could monitor the bat house when they had a chance. I was not sure how they would react to the idea of bats, but I was again impressed to see none of them were scared of bats and all of them were excited at the idea of seeing them nearby. So, a bat house or two will be added to the landscape this summer.
Some of the kids, though, were less excited and a bit apprehensive about creating a bee house. There were still some misconceptions about bees and they were still seen as a bit scary by some. We talked a bit about native solitary bees as opposed to honey bees, which most of them thought about immediately when I said the word "bee." After we talked about their important jobs and what they had to offer to the environment and humans, there was less fear and more intrigue. It looks like we will be making a bee house or two as well this summer.
Because we decided we could not have a petting zoo, one of the girls asked if we could have an area like a zoo, but with statutes of animals that we have here in Wisconsin. I thought it would be a great opportunity to have interpretive signage talking about different animals kids might run into here.
There were also several ideas about various learning and nature craft stations we could incorporate. One of those was a paper animal making station. I had no idea kids in today's technological world were still interested in origami, but these groups loved the idea.
They also asked for a mini-maze. Several had been to sunflower mazes and thought something along that line could make a fun addition. Rather than simply walking along a trail to the keyhole garden or sandbox, one of the girls said, it would be fun to have an option to go through a mini-maze to get to either of those attractions.
In both classes, we also planted a variety of vegetables for the gardens. The kids planted watermelon, cantaloupe, broccoli, pepper and cucumber seeds. We also took some old seeds and put them in moist paper towels to see if they would germinate. Several of the kids had already done this activity for their own gardens, which is a great way to make sure the seeds are still viable before planting them in the garden.
Completely on their own, the kids then started brainstorming fundraising ideas. It was obvious to them the garden would be a lot of work, but also would cost a good deal of money. They came up with great ideas to help raise money for the garden. Several of those ideas involved them making things to sell. One girl offered that the kids could make flower crowns and put craft bees in them. Those could then be sold to help raise money for the garden and also remind people "how good bees are," in her words.
There were also several ideas that incorporated butterflies. Butterfly toys and butterfly-themed water bottles were some of the favorites. Overall the kids came up with some great ideas. It was fun to see their imaginations run wild, thinking of all of the things they could do, and the fun they would have, in the garden. I am excited to watch their ideas come to life this summer.
Beckie Gaskill may be reached at [email protected] or outdoors @lakelandtimes.com.
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