How a Small Garden For Kids Can Teach Sustainability + The Tom's of Maine Green Your School Fund.

Does your child prefer hands-on learning? Mine sure does! I've partnered with Tom's of Maine to share how I'm teaching my children about sustainability and waste reduction with a small garden for kids. I've also got details about the Green Your School Fund for parents and educators to help kids save the planet, one project at a time!

How a small garden for kids can teach sustainability

It all started when my son came home from preschool after his teacher had them "grow plants" one day. Apparently, tiny little seeds were planted in small cups of dirt and they were going to watch them come to life over the next days and weeks. And, come to life they did!

My little guy came home with his cup of grass sprouts and was so excited about the process. It made me think about the fact that we were buying fresh herbs from the grocery store on a weekly basis. Why not grow them at home and save money and waste from all that packaging? I decided to use this opportunity to pick up where his teacher had left off.

We went to our local home improvement store and picked up some small herb and vegetable plants and some organic potting soil to create a small garden for kids. We also picked up some terra-cotta pots for our plants since we'll be moving soon and I wanted to be able to take these plants with us, but you could certainly plant right into the ground if you'd like. We chose herbs and vegetables we use often, like basil, thyme, oregano, and peppers. I figured this would also teach my kids responsibility since we'd have to remember to water the plants each day or so.

While we were transferring our small plants, my son and I talked about sustainability, using much smaller words of course. We talked about how everything we need in life depends on our planet and that we have to take care of it if we want it to last. I mentioned that since we'd be growing some of our own food products, it would cut down on the amount of garbage we send to the landfill (which he calls "trash mountain" when we drive by). We've been trying to cut down on our waste since pledging to take the Tom's of Maine #LessWasteChallenge, so this was a great tie-in.

Even little sister got in on the action! Although she made quite a mess, she really enjoyed playing in the water and helping us plant our new herbs and vegetables into pots.

My son is definitely a hands-on learner, so this was a fun activity that seemed to resonate with him. Like when we built our upcycled bird house as part of the Less Waste Challenge, it was like a lightbulb went off and he really understood what we were trying to do.

Green Your School Fund

If you want to help students by supporting this kind of hands-on learning, check out the Green School Fund. For a second year, Tom's of Maine has joined forced with DonorsChoose.org for the #GreenSchoolFund, which will give $1 million to support environmental education in classrooms around the country. Educators can visit the website and submit creative environmental projects and Tom’s of Maine will automatically match every citizen donation made to qualifying projects. Once those projects are fully funded, supplies will be sent straight to the school to make the project a reality. That means that kids across the nation will be rolling up their sleeves and learning about the positive impact they can have on the planet.

Since its inception in 2016, the Tom's of Maine Green Your School Fund has reached nearly 300,000 students and they're hoping to reach even more with your help! All year, Tom’s of Maine gives 10% of profits back to helping people and the planet, so by choosing Tom’s of Maine products, you're helping create the $1 million fund to help make schools more sustainable through DonorsChoose.org.

So, share this post with a teacher so they can submit their ideas today! Hopefully, their project idea will be funded fully by fall and our kids can start saving the planet right away once school starts again.

Disclosure: This post about creating a small garden for kids has been sponsored by Tom's of Maine. All opinions are my own. 

Check out our other Earth friendly posts:

How to make an upcycled bird house and feeder

How to make an upcycle hair bow holder