Workshop: Preschool Gardening & Sustainability Program for Early Childhood Teachers
$195 – per person
$149.50 – Early Bird Price Pay before 20th February 2017
Includes:
- A laminated Garden to Table Permaculture Companion Planting guide
- January – December guide on what to plant
- Course notes on a thumbdrive
When: Monday 20th March, 2017
Time: 9.00am – 3.00pm
Maximum 20 participants – Book your place now!
‘Growing up in suburban Melbourne, I thought beetroot just came out of a tin, until I grew my first beetroot and discovered the joys of gardening & since then I’ve never looked back!’. Megan Cooke
Our Preschool Gardening Program, in the Great Lakes is aimed at educating Preschool teachers with knowledge on implementing low cost, every day sustainable practices for their centre. In turn the Preschool teachers will explore the solutions to the issues that we face by modelling sustainable practices. Teachers do not need to be ‘experts’ in sustainability but instead will learn with the children, typically aged between 2 – 5 years.
Preschool Teachers and children will quickly learn what works and what doesn’t work which will foster the ongoing learning and development of the Preschool Gardening Program with a focus on sustainability. Centres can link this program in with the National Quality Standard 3.3 – Service promote sustainable practices and the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia.
At a young age children need to learn about the importance of being connected to their natural world. It is about teaching children the importance of where their food comes from, learning about the connection from the garden to the table.
Why is keeping the soil healthy important to us and our environment? Introducing children to growing their own food builds strong and healthy connection between the right and wrong choices in food which will set them in good stead for making healthy food choices for life.
Our sustainable Gardening Program teaches the basic principles of sustainability both at home, school or in the garden.
We teach the 3 main ethics of Permaculture – EARTH CARE, PEOPLE CARE & FAIR SHARE.
9am – 9.45am
Introductions – Welcome
9.45am – 11.00am
Hands on Gardening activity – composting, worm farming & harvesting produce
Build a Worm Hotel
Water – saving, harvesting & storage for reuse on the garden.
Waste – turning waste into a resource
Energy – ideas for simple ideas to save money and power
Soil – a living organism, nurturing soils and making compost
Insects & Animals – It’s ok to have chickens in a Preschool Centre!
11am – 12pm Resources for teaching composting and worm farming to children
Seasonal Planting – what and when to plant
Companion planting – friends and foes in the garden
Looking at increasing good bugs in the garden & how to control unwanted pests
Organic gardening principles
12pm – 1pm Lunch – Bring your own healthy lunch, we will provide salad & in season dips
1pm – 2.45pm – Planting activity & Ideas for creating low cost, upcycled gardens
Early Childhood/Preschool Gardening Free resources
Little Green Steps Sustainablilty Education for Childcare Centres – includes a checklist
‘Creating & Maintaining Organic Gardens‘ a guide to setting up gardens for Preschool Teachers.
Other free gardening resources for Preschool Teachers
Template for writing letters asking for free stuff from local business.
Connecting with community – what skills can you call upon in the local community?
Existing groups and networks to join – Seedsavers, Diggers Club, Permaculture Australia
2.45pm – 3pm
Wrap up & where to from here?
Further Reading
Read the Advocates article ‘Home grown program draws accolades for preschool’ By Rebecca Casson on
how Lillypilly preschool in the Great Lakes won an award for their locavore gardening program.
Meet our Preschool Gardening Teacher…
Megan Cooke Permaculture Teacher
Megan Cooke, director of Garden to Table Permaculture has a combined 24 years experience in horticulture, permaculture and outdoor education. In 2012, Megan taught a ‘Gardening for Sustainability Program’ for the Great Lakes Council and worked at a local primary school teaching the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. Megan has developed a free guide for Preschools, in combination with the Forster Neighbourhood Centre ‘Creating & Maintaining Organic Gardens‘.
Working with indigenous and local community volunteers at the Forster Community Garden, Megan learnt valuable skills in delivering a project with a minimal budget & collaborating with the community. She has just returned from a trip to Malawi in Africa where she completed her second Permaculture Design Course.
Megan is passionate about teaching people the joys of growing and cooking their own organic food and sharing the knowledge she has learnt from her sustainable living journey of building a rammed earth passive solar house surrounded by Permaculture gardens with her husband and two children in Pacific Palms.
Call Megan on 0413 769 530 to book your FREE 15 minute Skype consultation to discover the possibilities of how we can work together to grow your preschool garden & teach the next generation about the importance of practicing Environmental sustainability.
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