In The Garden Club, children engage in hands-on activities with purpose and meaning, learn about cycles of nature, seasonal rhythms, and feel safe to respond to an abundant supply of plant materials and life stages from seed to harvest, and from birth to maturity. (Photo: ~Courtesy of Laura DePrado)
Horticultural Therapy provides an opportunity for children to work cooperatively with other children while learning new skills and new information. Horticulture, the growing of plants, is also an activity where children can learn and grow.
Specifically designed horticultural activities promote healthy interactions and developmental growth in a child and creates a fun, engaging, nonjudgmental environment where both children and plants thrive and bloom.
Since September, students enrolled in the Garden Club, facilitated by me as part of an after-school program at the Middle Earth 21st Century Community Learning Center Program (CCLC) at Smalley Elementary School in Bound Brook, will tell you no green article are required.