A while ago I came across one of the coolest ideas for a garden. A sensory garden.

The senses go beyond the traditional five senses that you learned as a kid. Sure, you have to appease sight, taste, hearing, smell, and touch. But, there are also the vestibular, proprioceptive, and interoceptive senses. Vestibular means a sense of balance. Proprioceptive means a sense of self in space. Interoceptive means internal sensations, such as knowing when hungry, thirsty, needing to go to the bathroom, etc.

This fantastic post on Hartley's Life with 3 Boys teachers you how to easily create a sensory garden at home, to fulfill all of these senses. I would love to see such things being implemented in schools, as well. What a great sensorial project!

What do you think?

Earth Day is coming up in less than a month. This holiday perfectly fits into the Montessori philosophy, as it encourages children to care for their environment. It gets children outside into nature, which is so important to their development and concentration. It also helps them to enhance their observations of the world around them.

Here are some stories about things that other Montessori schools did for Earth Day last year. Perhaps you can become inspired by some of them. Please share some of your own upcoming ideas, also!

Flagstaff FoodLink

The Flagstaff FoodLink is counting on local schools to help teach children about sustainable, organic gardening. As children learn to grow their own food, they will take pride in it and are more likely to eat healthy foods. Some of the schools are planning on using the food grown in their gardens to feed their students. Teachers can also use the experiences to teach the plant life cycle in the science curriuclum. The local Montessori middle school was one of the participants.

Labyrinth

Students at Tulsa Montessori worked to plant 88 shrubs in a labyrinth. For now the shrubs are small, but when they mature, children can take pleasure in full body movements through this calming maze.

Ladybugs Released

Schools in Palmetto Bay released thousands of ladybugs for Earth Day, to control the aphid population as a natural pesticide. Schools participating included Alexander Montessori School and Winhold Montessori.

Planting 2 Million Trees

Brisbane had an ambitious plan to plant 2 million trees. Fig Tree Pocket State School and the Brisbane Montessori School helped to plant 1200 of them at the Brisbane Equestrian Centre.

Rainforest Alliance

Several schools in the Jacksonville area, including Discovery Montessori, worked with the Rainforest Alliance to bring about conservation awareness on a local and global level. One project included a giant art display at the Jacksonville Zoo.

Rain Garden

Sea Pines Montessori Academy in Savannah, GA created a Rain Garden last year. These gardens catch rainwater run-off, and use plants to filter pollutants out of the water.

School Gardens in Durham, Hosted by Chef

Jeff Ensminger, chef in Durham, is working on implementing school gardens at all 20 elementary schools in the district. His goal is to have four raised beds at each school, so that children can plant and harvest seasonal vegetables. They are more likely to eat food that they have grown themselves. But because state law prohibits the cafeterias from serving the school-grown produce, Ensminger hopes that they schools can possibly sell the produce. George Watts Montessori already had a thriving garden in place.

I came across yet another article about children growing their own vegetables in a Montessori program. Granted, this article about Riddle Street Montessori is about a year old, but nonetheless it demonstrates how Montessori schools are bringing gardening back to their practical life programs.

These children, according to the press release, decided to answer First Lady Michelle Obama's call to reduce obesity by growing their own vegetables, and learning how to lead healthier lifestyles. They received assistance from a local greenhouse.

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1213502

I'm not going to lie. I became extremely jealous when I came across this article about Montessori students working on their garden at school. It was published in February, and the students are in Florida. I live in Upstate NY, where every time the snow melts and you see signs of spring, a snowfall arrives the next day to dash all of those hopes.

These students at Countryside Montessori are learning about where food comes from, as it doesn't really come from the supermarket. They are already reaping a cool harvest of lettuce, green, beans, and more. They even have a hydroponic garden. The kids are starting to eat more veggies, simply because they have been involved in the growing process. And anything that isn't eaten is sold to the families to raise money for more planting projects.

I love to do gardening, and used to have a small gardening blog at Andi's Gardening Experiments. I am already so excited to get my fingers into the dirt. I could smell the earth yesterday, before the snow returned today. And I love to teach my children about planting. In fact, on Friday, one of my four year-olds was asking me when we are going to start our seed planting projects. Every year, we do the experiment with lima beans in the window. I also allow the children to choose flower and vegetable seeds, which they get to plant in six-packs that I keep from each year's annual planting. They get to cultivate and care for these seedlings, then take them all home to plant in their own garden. Parents thank me every year.

In another classroom, the children have been contributing to a compost pile. That teacher has one at home, so the children give her their scraps. In turn, she brings the compost back to use with their annual plantings.

We are hoping to be able to do more planting when we get to our new location in the fall. Unfortunately, the planting season doesn't usually start around here until mid- to late May, and our school ends the first week in June. That makes it extremely difficult to start and maintain a garden. I believe one of our goals is to also have summer school in the new building, so perhaps it will be more feasible then?

Get inspired by the kids at Countryside Montessori as you think of how you are going to implement plants into your spring curriculum.

Use some of these Simple Ways to Include Your Young Child in Gardening Activities.

And of course, you can always use my activities for Teaching the Plant Life Cycle with Lima Beans.