Education Corner: DIY Gardening Activity
Meet Mrs. Bandy
Hi, I’m Mrs. Bandy and I’ll be writing science educational blogs that will include various activities to get your kids outside and interested in our beautiful outdoors. I was an educator with Pinellas County Schools for 5 years and worked with numerous Tampa Bay environmental nonprofits. I have a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Policy and a master’s degree in STEM Middle School Grades.
Family Gardening Fun
Spring. The season of regrowth. Spring provides new opportunities to explore and interact with the outdoors and beautify our backyards. One of the most common spring activities is mulching beds to prevent erosion with incoming summer rains and planting new flowers. Planting native flowers is so important for our environment and has numerous benefits such as providing shelter and food for local wildlife as well as supporting pollinators. In addition, native plants help save water, prevent erosion and increase biodiversity.
Try This DIY Activity
Have you ever planted flowers and wondered why they didn’t grow well? Have your flowers grown better on one side of the flower bed than the other side? Have you planted flowers last year and they grew great but this year they didn’t? These questions have crossed my mind in previous years so let’s discuss some of the reasons. I’ll be providing a do it yourself activity so your entire family can get outside and beautify your backyard during the beautiful spring months. The only supplies needed include flowers of your choice, native flowers, soil, watering can, water, gloves and lots of smiles. Let’s dig in! Click here for a database of native and Florida-friendly plants.
1. Once you have had time to review what native plants are found in your area and spent some time talking about plants, you are ready to start your family DIY activity. One of my favorite beginning of the year class activities is to set up a bunch of different plants around the classroom or in your case in your backyard. Pick a spot in your backyard to plant your native plants.
2. You will want to discuss which variable you would want to manipulate and monitor over the course of the next few months (for example: sunlight exposure, amount of water, space in the container, type of soil, or location in the yard).
Focus on one variable at a time; for example, start with planting the flowers in shaded areas vs sunlight areas or try planting with different soil. Once you’ve identified your variable, you can measure growth of the plants.
3. I recommend checking on the plants at least twice a week and for older elementary kids they can work on measuring skills. Changing variables and including your kids in discussions will help your family figure out why certain flowers will do better in one part of your backyard.
Talking Points With Kids
A great discussion can include asking your kids what they see, they think, and they wonder about plants. This gets them to observe their environment and critically evaluate characteristics of plants. Here are a few tutorials that include basic traits of plants which is recommended for elementary school aged children:
Below are a few tutorials for middle school aged children which include concepts photosynthesis and parts of plants:
I hope you enjoy planting memories with your family!