Children's Gardens in which to Learn and Grow
A Service-Learning Project by David Hillock, Matthew Kirkwood, Douglas Needham and Brenda Simons
The children’s desires, as expressed in the surveys, were incorporated into garden designs by OSU students in our department’s Horticulture and Landscape Architecture courses. Children’s input into garden design is important for developing their sense of ownership of a garden. Through the service of our Horticulture and Landscape Architecture students in the garden’s design and installation, our students will gain insight into the creation of public gardens, specifically ones for children. |
Project Description
The purpose of this project was to create a template through which elementary educators could work with their communities to develop a children’s garden. We propose to survey geographically distributed 5th grade students throughout Oklahoma for their input into a garden designed for and by children. The survey will be designed to access the needs and dreams of both children and their teachers. The Service Learning presentation given to 5th grade classes in Oklahoma.
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| A prototype of one of the children’s gardens was installed at the Oklahoma Gardening studio grounds with the help of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture students, OBGA Ambassadors (a group of horticulturally trained volunteers from the Greater Stillwater Community), and Oklahoma elementary school teachers who seek to gain experience in garden installation in order to create a children’s garden at their own schools. The inclusion of teachers in the process will insure that it can be implemented at other schools where school children and local Master Gardeners (a group of horticulturally trained volunteers within many Oklahoma counties) could be involved with the creation and installation of the gardens.
The processes from conception, through design and installation, and finally utilization for elementary education was videotaped, segments were aired on Oklahoma Gardening on OETA. Oklahoma Gardening enjoys a viewership in excess of 175,000 each weekend.
A “how-to” videotape was produced and made available through the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service (OCES) from segments of the project that were videotaped for Oklahoma Gardening. A “how-to” OCES Fact Sheet listing garden types, plants needed, timeline for planting and implementation, possibilities for summer care, money & supply source suggestions, and educational ideas will be published. |
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