BURLINGTON, Vermont – Kids across the country are celebrating the start of spring by reflecting on how plants and nature positively impact their lives.
April is Kids Garden Month and an ideal time to celebrate all the ways that nurturing plants benefits youth. In their annual Kids Garden Month contest, KidsGardening invites kids to turn that idea on its head by considering all of the ways that their garden plants nurture them back!
“We celebrate kid gardeners all year,” says Em Shipman, executive director of KidsGardening, a national nonprofit and leader in the youth gardening movement. “During Kids Garden Month, we want to lift the many positive benefits gardening has on kids themselves. This year, our Kids Garden Month contest asks kids to tell us how their garden takes care of them.”
KidsGardening encourages parents, caregivers, and educators to ask the kids they garden with to think about all the ways gardening improves their lives. For example, gardening might create opportunities for community connection, allow time with friends and family, offer a place to relax or be inspired, provide food, or make their world a more beautiful place.
“When kids connect to, build positive associations with, and feel cared for by nature they are more likely to grow up to be environmental stewards. Our relationship with the earth is reciprocal and the sooner kids learn this, the better off we will all be,” notes Shipman.
As part of the celebrations, on April 14, KidsGardening is hosting a For Kids By Kids! Livestream Garden Chat. Dynamic kid gardeners Kendall Rae Johnson, age 6, Te’Lario Watkins II, age 14, and Emma Biggs, age 16 will share advice and inspiration with fellow young gardeners.
Families and educators interested in participating in the Kids Garden Month contest or the For Kids By Kids! Livestream Garden Chat can visit KidsGardening.org for more information.
About KidsGardening – KidsGardening has been a leader in the youth gardening movement since launching the Youth Garden Grant in 1982, the first and longest-running program of its kind. As a national nonprofit, they inspire and support garden educators, volunteers, and families by offering grants, original educational resources, and fostering a community of dedicated youth garden advocates. Garden-based learning improves nutritional attitudes and educational outcomes, enhances social and emotional learning, and gives rise to environmental stewardship in youth across the country.
