We planted a vegetable garden, look what’s growing!
Natalya Grigorievna Konovalova, teacher at MBDOU No. 27, Uglegorsk, Sakhalin region
This is possible when children have at least basic knowledge about nature, master simple methods of growing plants, learn to observe nature and see its beauty. It is on this basis that children’s love for nature, their native land, and the Motherland is formed.
Preschoolers are in kindergarten almost every day (except weekends), from morning to evening. Where can they learn hands-on interactions with nature?
For this purpose, we have our own vegetable garden in each section of our kindergarten. A vegetable garden in a kindergarten is one of the conditions that is necessary for the implementation of environmental education of children in kindergarten. Its presence promotes the child’s contact with natural objects and introduces preschoolers to seasonal changes.
Here children have the opportunity to observe the development of plants, remember their names and appearance characteristics, note characteristic features, acquire watering and care skills, and understand the role of nature in human life. In addition, this is a feasible joint work of children, which makes it possible to learn responsibility, contributes to the unification of the children's team, and the preservation and strengthening of children's health. A vegetable garden in a kindergarten is also an opportunity to see the results of your work.
In our garden, the children, together with the teacher, planted dill, lettuce, carrots, beets, onions, parsley, and peas and take care of them. In the process of observation and hard work, they learned that their growth and development depend not only on sunlight, heat, moisture, soil, but also on care.
We teach children watering, loosening, weeding, we explain that they loosen so that air can flow better to the roots of plants, we teach them to distinguish cultivated plants from weeds.
Working in the vegetable garden and flower garden in spring and summer, preschoolers gain basic understanding of growing plants from seeds.
Such constant activity is a method of environmental education: it teaches children to systematically think and really care about the plants that are in the same living space as them.
Working in nature allows a child to see the result of his help to living things, and contributes to the development of sympathy, compassion, and empathy for living beings in children.
Thus, with competent guidance from the teacher, a vegetable garden in a kindergarten has a huge impact on the harmonious development of children.
[mailerlite_form form_id=4]
HOW TO CREATE A CHILDREN'S GARDEN
It may consist of one or several (if you have more than one child) beds. To make it interesting for the child, and for him to understand that this is his personal “possession,” the children’s garden is planted away from the adult. It should be located so that it is convenient for the child to approach it from any side.
The beds should not be in an open sunny place, otherwise the small gardener may overheat in the sun. It is best to choose a small area in diffuse partial shade, for example, under an old apple tree.
In order for a child to feel the difference between his own and adult beds, it is better to give them some unusual shapes - a semicircle, a triangle, an oval. It is clear that the beds should be small so that the child can care for the plants from all sides.
The child’s contribution to the children’s garden depends on his age. Psychologists recommend starting this work with children after four years of age. It is clear that the contribution of children to the children's garden will be minimal. You, the adults, must prepare the land, form the beds, and mark the furrows. At the same time, you must discuss all your actions with your child.
Let him decide what shape the bed will be. What will grow on it, what and how you will plant and sow together. Be sure to buy your kids a set of children's agricultural tools: a shovel, a rake, a hoe, a small watering can.
Let him and you use his rakes to loosen the soil in the garden bed. But he must sow the seeds himself, and water the crops too. It doesn’t matter that you then finish all the work for him. He won't even notice it.
For older children, shift some part of the preparatory work onto their shoulders, but also resolve all other issues together with them.
Decorating a vegetable garden on a windowsill
This is perhaps the most difficult moment. And I think that the colleague who asked me to expand on this topic in more detail was referring specifically to design ideas.
As for the older group, I see the garden there as follows. Each student, after a preliminary introduction to the topic, chooses the plant that he would like to plant. For some it will be an onion, for others it will be a sunflower, etc. For each child, you can purchase identical pots, on which a sticker with the child’s name will be affixed. Or perhaps you will be able to buy bright multi-colored pots of the same style, but in different colors.
Then you will need to choose a time to plant the plants and spend at least 30 minutes every day to develop this theme further. For example, show cartoons about the growth cycles of each of the selected plants. Water them on separate days. In others, you just need to make sure that the soil is neither dry nor wet. You can make a calendar in which each child writes the name of the plant and puts the planting date and germination date.
If this option does not suit you, then you can saddle everything in the form of a single composition on one windowsill. The main thing here is to choose a concept. There are a lot of design ideas on the Internet. It could just be a few pots with different plants and a little herb, or it could be all green plants, or, conversely, all multi-colored. You can decorate your garden with some decorative figures.
I am sure that you will find a suitable option among the photos, but I have not seen my option, which I suggested first, anywhere. Try to do this, although it is costly in terms of money and time, it is worth it. This will be a real highlight of your group.
Do-it-yourself landscaping of a summer area
Natalia Chernikova
Do-it-yourself landscaping of a summer area
I always enjoy looking at my colleagues’ photo reports about landscaping . And one can only rejoice at how well equipped the playgrounds are. We have problems with this. Of the new stationary equipment, we only have a slide. Everything else is done by the hands of teachers and parents of students.
Every year we rack our brains over how to get out of this situation and arrange the site .
We mainly use plywood, boards, logs, and available materials for equipment.
So, for several years now, the train has been serving well as a development center for the development of fine motor skills of the hands. At first we had him like this.
Over time, the mechanisms of the locomotive fell into disrepair. This year we updated it. And the locomotive became like this.
Its details are bright and interesting.
Nearby is homemade equipment also aimed at developing fine motor skills. A few years ago, we found the backrest of a baby crib useful for such equipment. But it broke down without serving us even 3 years.
Now we have new equipment, made of durable wooden cuttings, metal crossbars. I would like to believe that it will serve us for a longer period.
Nearby is Moidodyr, where children can wash their hands using a washstand.
For role-playing games, we have an airplane.
And also a gas station for cars, a car, a motorcycle, which I also talked about.
We have a creativity center: a table, a bench, a stand for fine art works.
And for many years now, a table in the shape of a ram for drawing with semolina and sand has been pleased with its functionality.
When children are doing creative work at the table, the rest of the children are running around and playing outdoor games. In order to be able to organize construction games at the same time, the idea came to make another table. And do you know what we made it from? From a wooden reel with wires on it. We dug one part of the coil into the ground, painted the top part, and made flowers on the surface of the table using colored self-adhesive paper. Our table turned out to be large.
There is an opportunity for everyone to gather there to play board games. There are plans to make a bench so that we don’t have to take chairs out of the group every day.
The flowers in our flower beds in the shape of swans have already grown up and delight us with beauty.
A health track was created, which I also talked about. Survived until the end of summer.
We have physical education equipment “Apple and Pear”
made from plywood. They are used for rolling balls. We have been using this equipment for several years.
We made multi-colored gates for climbing. An arc made of a hoop with plastic colored balls placed on it. We placed the gate where there is at least some green soft grass.
This year, to organize the outdoor game “Carousel”
A carousel made from several hoops of different sizes and multi-colored satin ribbons was hung on the veranda.
To organize games to develop breathing, we made a guide in the form of an inverted umbrella and butterflies.
We are building the lords for next summer. I'm looking for ideas from you, colleagues. Thank you.
I wish you all creative success!
"Gnomes". DIY decoration for a kindergarten area Quite recently, a couple of kind gnomes “settled” in my house. I made these fairy-tale little men to decorate the beds on our children's plot. DIY flowers for garden decoration. Master class Hello, dear colleagues! I bring to your attention a master class on making flowers from scrap materials with your own hands. Do-it-yourself site design With the onset of warm days, children’s stay in the fresh air increases and teachers face the problem of organizing interesting activities. Summer decoration of a children's plot with your own hands “Matryoshka” The long-awaited summer will come soon. I really want the kindergarten area to look bright, lively and interesting in the summer! Kindergarten site. Do-it-yourself summer decoration of a preschool educational institution site A kindergarten is a special institution; it is practically a second home for its employees and children. And you always want to make your home cozy and warm. Do-it-yourself summer design of the site “Childhood’s Country” CHILDHOOD’S COUNTRY A kindergarten is a special institution, practically a second home for its employees and children. And you always want to make your own home. Summer decoration of the site with your own hands “You cannot raise a full-fledged person without instilling in him a sense of beauty...” R. Tagore I have been working on this topic for 2 years. This is the direction.
Source
