Kids in the Garden

​Parents and caregivers know how challenging it can be to get kids to eat enough fruits and vegetables, and gardening may help. An expanding body of research shows that when kids help grow fruits and vegetables, they are more likely to eat more produce and try different kinds, too. At our Kids in the Garden free sessions, your child can have this opportunity.
The benefits of gardening don't end there. Gardening helps kids engage their curiosity, learn to be resourceful and gain self-confidence. It also is a great way to get the entire family outside for fresh air and physical activity.  Our Kids Garden is located right in the heart of our Display Gardens, created and maintained by the North Country Master Gardeners.

To Pre-Register & for more information call the Spooner Agricultural Research Station @ 715-635-3506
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​Make Kids Part of the Planting and Growing Process
Depending on their age, children take to gardening differently. For example, preschoolers tend to be fascinated with exploring dirt, digging holes, planting seeds and working the garden hose, while older children may be more interested in how a single seed turns into an edible plant. While older kids can read seed packets and start to understand growing regions, younger ones may not understand that it's probably not possible to grow oranges in northern Wisconsin. We will be growing fun, reliable plants such as rattlesnake beans in our pirate garden, colorful flowers for a rainbow garden, and plants such as lettuce for a salad bowl garden. We will teach children responsibility by assigning each child a watering, harvesting or weeding task. Allowing children to be involved in every step of the process will get them excited to taste the fruits (and vegetables) of their labor. Our summer program is geared towards kids 3 to 12 years of age.

Learn about marvelous monarchs and pollinators!

Sample of our snacks – this one is a “dirt” pudding with gummy worms.

Encourage Taste Testing
Gardening exposes kids to a variety of fruits and vegetables to encourage taste testing straight from the ground (after a quick rinse to remove dirt) and at the dinner table. We show kids how a tomato can taste delicious from the vine or in dishes such as fresh salsa, marinara sauce or tomato soup to bring the experience full circle. At almost every Kids in the Garden session, we offer children a taste of the vegetable and fruits grown in our gardens.

​Start Small with theme gardens
We will begin small by creating a garden with a dinner salad in mind. We will plant salad greens, lettuce, arugula, spinach, and herbs and tall greens, kale, parsley and chives — all are kid-friendly and easy to grow. Kids like to see the result of their effort, so we will also be planting crops that grow quickly such as green beans that will grow up the mast of our pirate’s ship.  We will plant colorful flowers in our rainbow garden.

Enjoy a Summer Learning Experience
The gardening experience is helped by our Master Gardeners who will engage your child with learning about bugs, composting, hummingbirds, monarchs and pollinators, apples, and even yoga. Kids will enjoy learning thru our Story Walk presentation at the beginning of each session that introduces the topic of the day to them, and then learning more in depth on the subject of the day from our Master Gardener and other teachers.

Learn all about beneficial bugs!

We offer flexible scheduling, meeting on Monday afternoons from 4 pm to 5:30 pm, repeating the session on Tuesday morning from 9:30 am to 11 am. Odds are kids and parents alike will enjoy the time they spend together and learn a little something along the way. We hope you will join us!

Our 2019 schedule is:
**A parent or an adult is required to stay with children under 10 years of age.**

• Monday & Tuesday, June  10th & 11th—Planting Our Garden and Construction of a Bug  Condo!
  We will be planting our seeds and plants and making labels for our spaces.  We plan a story time and plenty of time to learn about the seeds and plants we planted.  We will explore who our bug guest might be in our Bug Condo.  Hummingbird feeders will be filled and put up and then we can watch Hummingbirds all summer. 

• Monday & Tuesday—June 24th & 25th—Composting We Go and Magical Hummingbirds!  
  We are starting our Compost Pile and learning about the magic of Hummingbirds!  We will also plant beans and cucumbers and learn how to care for our little plants including weeding and mulching them.  We will install our garden scarecrow.

​Learn how to compost!

• Monday & Tuesday—July 8th & 9th—Yoga in the Garden!  
  After we weed and harvest the vegetables that are ready, Yoga in the Garden will be our topic & activity to learn about.

• Monday & Tuesday—July 22nd & 23rd-Marvelous Monarchs and Pollinators!
  Monarch butterflies are today’s topic.  We will weed, harvest and taste the vegetables that are ready. We will learn about trying new foods.

Learn all about pollinating!

• Monday & Tuesday— August 5th & 6th—Apples, Apples, Apples and Painting Friendship Rocks!
  ​Today we learn about Apples, and what lives inside some of them.  We are going to paint Friendship Rocks.  This is our final gathering before school starts.

Paint friendship rocks!

To Pre-Register & for more information call the Spooner Agricultural Research Station @ 715-635-3506