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Experience-based learning in a garden teaches children memorable lessons about fruits and vegetables. Children can plant, tend, harvest, and taste fresh produce that may be unfamiliar to them.
Let’s Get Growing
Garden-based learning also connects kids back to Texas agriculture and introduces them to new foods. Research has shown that when children are involved in the planting and growing process they are more willing to taste these foods.
Let’s Get Growing is a four-part resource to help you plan, grow, harvest and connect to develop a sustainable garden program:
PLAN supports sustainability and longevity for educational gardens.
Across Texas, school and child care center gardens provide invaluable lessons in nutrition and agriculture. Whether it is in a major city, suburb or a quiet rural community, most successful and sustainable gardens start with a road map. This guide will help a garden coordination team get off to a great start and prepare for long-term success.
This is the first tool in the Texas Department of Agriculture's (TDA) Let's Get Growing four part series. The guide is divided into five major steps: Prepare, Design, Communicate, Execute, Evaluate, and Improve. Each step builds on the previous one.
Mission and Vision Template
Download this PDF to guide conversations around the development of a clear and impactful mission and vision statements. The mission and vision statements help teams to establish and communicate garden goals and set the stage for garden success.
Garden Program Assessment Meeting Planner
Download this tool to keep garden team meetings on track and organized. Use this guide to create a meeting agenda to ensure each meeting is impactful and productive.
Garden Project Tracker
Keep track of garden project steps and progress. One sheet can be used for the entire garden project or create a new sheet for each individual project.
GROW uses current industry research to ensure child and adult safety in the garden.
Let's Get Growing: Grow focuses on participants' safety in the garden. Use the recommendations in this guide to ensure children and volunteers have safe and educational experiences. It is important to ensure that tasks are age appropriate and proper safety precautions are taken. Topics in this guide include:
- Risk factors for working outside
- Harvesting fruits and vegetables
- Harvesting tree fruit and climbing
- Participant hygiene
- Putting best practices into action
Build Your Own Safety in the Garden Checklist Template
Download this template to create a safety checklist personalized for your garden. The checklist includes all safety topics covered in the Let's Get Growing: Grow as well as conversation starters for questions that must be answered by the local garden support team.
HARVEST promotes educators and garden coordinators working together.
Gardens and garden grown produce are great sources of fresh food and experiential learning in schools and child care centers. Research has shown that when children help grow it, they will eat it, but success in the garden doesn't just happen - it's planned and planted well.
Harvest is the third tool in TDA's Let's Get Growing series. Harvest was developed to help garden coordinators work with child nutrition professionals to identify the best use for produce grown in school and child care center gardens.
Garden Harvest Protocol
Launch the conversation at the local level with practical considerations about food safety. Topics covered include: safe soil, safe water, and safe tools.
Garden Harvest Receipt
Garden programs should maintain a record of where the products ended up regardless of whether it is donated, sold, served in a taste test or used in meals and snacks. The garden harvest template receipt tracks weight and quantity.
CONNECT helps increase awareness of educational garden opportunities.
Let’s Get Growing: Connect offers tools to help build a coordinated communication campaign that ensures support for a garden program year-round, even during the summer months when harvests peak and volunteers vacation. Any of these tools can be used by garden coordinators or child nutrition team members to build a personalized communication strategy to help keep communities engaged and gardens successful. Tools can be used by school and child care center staff, as well as community members to strengthen engagement.
Take-Home Parent Flyer Template
Backpack stuffers offer one of the most effective ways to get your message front and center with guardians. This template can be personalized to ensure your message takes center stage. This flyer can be used to gather contact information to strengthen a volunteer campaign. Use this resource in tandem with the volunteer tracking template to keep all volunteer information organized and updated.
Volunteer Tracking Template
Download this easy to use Excel template to organize the contact information and job interests from your volunteers. This tracking document will help keep responses you receive from take-home flyers or emails organized so you are ready to activate when the time comes. Use the Parent Flyer to generate the information needed to complete this excel template. And then strengthen your communication using your new contact list!
Tips for using this Excel document
- Garden Volunteer Sign-up Sheet: Use the first sheet of the Excel document to record volunteer information. Respondents will indicate which job they prefer in the response section of the parent flyer. Enter volunteer names in the Name column, press the tab or right arrow key to navigate to the next column and a small grey box with a down arrow on it will appear on the right hand side. Click the arrow and the drop down list will appear. Select the job and then press the tab key to navigate to the next column. Capture any notes relevant to the volunteer in the Notes column such as special skills or interests.
- Volunteer Calendar: The second sheet of this Excel document includes a calendar for you to update during the summer months. Based on responses from the parent flyer, update the information on the calendar and then share with your contact list. This way, everyone will know the volunteer schedule and who to contact if a change in responsibility is needed.
Sample Press Releases
A press release is a great tool for connecting with the local media. Following certain style guidelines and including relevant information increases the chance that your press release will grab the attention of a publication or media outlet. Download one or both of the sample press releases for use at different times during the year, and update the italicized and highlighted content to make the story your own. All content should be approved by your organizations leadership and communication team prior to sending to media. If you do not have a communication team, ensure the language is approved through the appropriate chain of command.
Sample Email Language
Email communications have become a staple for parents, teachers and administrators. They are a fast way to reach many people and they enable an immediate, trackable response. Use the sample language provided to draft your own email message to potential volunteers.
Sample Social Media Posts
Social media enables organizations to share content in real time, connect with different audiences, and post photos and videos. Coordinating social media campaigns ahead of time can take the stress out of daily posts and help to amplify a message. Use the sample language provided to help get you started or craft your own messages to reach your target audience.
Garden-Based Learning for Early Child Care Settings
Grow It, Try It, Like It! Preschool Fun with Fruits and Vegetables
This garden-themed nutrition education kit was developed by USDA’s Team Nutrition and can be used by child care center and day care home staff. It introduces children to three fruits — peaches, strawberries and cantaloupe, and three vegetables — spinach, sweet potatoes and crookneck squash. The kit includes seven booklets featuring fun activities and can be used to introduce any fruit or vegetable. The complete kit can be downloaded from Team Nutrition’s Resource Library.
Farm to Childcare Curriculum Package
The curriculum was developed for preschool-age children by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in partnership with childcare provider company New Horizon Academy, with support from the Center for Prevention at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. The curriculum and associated materials include practical, experience-tested strategies to try out new approaches in child care settings including menu innovations, classroom activities and family engagement ideas.
Reach for the Stars: Growing Young Minds with Farm to Preschool
The North Carolina Farm to Preschool Network developed this research-based resource to help child care centers and family child care homes integrate Farm to Child Care activities into their curriculum while addressing the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS), an inclusive evaluation tool, based on seven categories. This resource is organized by four Farm to Child Care activities: edible gardening, farm field trips/farmer visits, local food classroom cooking and taste tests, and local food served in meals and snacks.
Garden-Based Learning for K-12 Students
Dig In! Standards-Based Nutrition Education from the Ground Up
This ten-lesson curriculum kit, developed by USDA’s Team Nutrition, uses a school garden setting to engage fifth and sixth grade students in learning about fruits and vegetables through growing, harvesting and tasting. The kit includes a gardening guide, teacher guide, lesson materials, at home parent booklets and posters
The Great Garden Detective Adventure
This eleven–lesson curriculum, developed by USDA’s Team Nutrition, guides third and fourth grade students through a series of investigations that connect the school garden to the classroom, cafeteria and home. Materials include a teacher guide, curriculum lessons with activity materials and newsletters to send home with students and share information with parents.
Got Veggies?
Got Veggies? is a garden-based nutrition education curriculum developed by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Program for second and third grade students. This guidebook features seven full lesson plans, each including an overview, list of objectives, a list of needed materials and directions for lesson activities.
Interdependence in the Garden Ecosystem Curriculum for 6-8 Grade
In this 12-lesson series, students will explore the basic ecological principle of interdependence through the lens of common organic farming practices. Students will learn about the meaning behind ecosystem and common farming practices that affect the wellbeing of crops and what role do students have in the garden ecosystem overall.
Resources from USDA
School Garden Frequently Asked Questions, memo SP 32-2009, provides guidance on how school garden and cafeteria programs can partner to create a campus or district garden program.
Farm to School and School Garden Expenses, memo SP 06-2015, provides guidance about the use of funds from the nonprofit school food service account to cover expenditures related to farm to school activities and school gardens.
School Garden Fact Sheet, this resource provides an overview of how school gardens support the development of healthy habits in cafeterias, classrooms and communities.
Food Safety Tips for School Gardens, This resource provides food safety best practices for gardening and guidance on how to serve produce from school gardens safely.
Other Resources
Garden Based Learning
Discover the benefits of garden based learning in this easy-to-read resource created by TDA. See how garden based learning can be utilized to strengthen learning for all ages and subjects.
Eat Smart… it’s in the Garden
This resource, developed by the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, helps explain all aspects of a school garden, including planning, suggestions for getting the community and administration’s buy-in, incorporating garden-based learning into curriculum an incorporating garden harvest into cafeteria meals.
Aggie Horticulture Website
This website offers information and resources for garden managers, including planning and development tools and an Easy Gardening Series with information specific to fruit and vegetable varieties that grow well in Texas climates.
REAL School Gardens
This organization helps elementary schools create and sustain school gardens, by encouraging the use of gardens to support students’ learning and fostering cooperation among schools, families and the community.
Got Dirt? Garden Toolkit for implementing youth gardens
This easy-to-use toolkit, developed by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Program and the Wisconsin Fruit and Vegetable Nutrition Program, provides a framework for starting a fruit and vegetable garden. The toolkit is designed to walk you through the basic steps of starting and maintaining a garden.
School Garden Assessment Tool
This school garden assessment tool, developed by The Edible Schoolyard Project, provides a framework for collecting data on the functionality of school gardens and determining areas of need, including training, technical assistance and financial support.
Incorporating School Garden Language into a School Wellness Policy
This guide, developed by the Wisconsin School Garden Initiative, outlines two ways to effectively integrate school garden language into a district wellness policy.
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