How learning gardens foster well-being and development through the promotion of purposeful play in early childhood and beyond

ABSTRACT

Play is essential to learning and development in the early childhood years. Young children experiment with new skills through play, which supports the development of new competencies and furthers cognitive development. Nontraditional learning spaces such as teaching and learning gardens provide excellent opportunities for children to engage in purposeful play that supports their well-being, cognitive and identity development, and promotes positive emotional experiences. Self-determination theory, cognitive psychology, and developmental psychology offer useful frameworks for understanding how play in school gardens can improve motivation and promote meaningful learning in the early childhood years and beyond. Benefits reported in the literature of incorporating school gardens into teaching and learning experiences include opportunities for learners to satisfy the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, increased positive emotions, opportunities to renew cognitive and emotional energies, and tangible evidence of efforts linked to initiative and industry of students who care for plants and animals in the garden. Recommendations include long-term planning for funding school garden programs and supporting teachers in incorporating purposeful play in the garden into learning.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional Resources

1. The Sonoran Desert School Gardeners’ Almanac. https://schoolgardens.arizona.edu/almanac

Developed by The University of Arizona’s School Garden Workshop, The School Garden Almanac is an annual publication that harnesses the knowledge and traditions of the Tucson community to inform teaching and learning in school gardens in the Sonoran Desert eco-region. The almanac can be downloaded using the link. In addition to the virtual almanac, we have also included a video about the almanac that can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDMSqOJVPBg

2. School garden resources by theme and grade level. https://schoolgardens.arizona.edu/curriculum/curriculum/theme-grade-level

The University of Arizona School Garden Workshop website provides lesson plans by theme and grade level. School Garden Lesson Plans for Early Childhood have been created by early childhood educators in the Tucson Unified School District and are available as PDF downloads free of charge. These lesson plans draw from a range of topics and can easily be adapted for different ecoregions. Click the link to find the collection of these lesson plans.

3. The School Gardeners’ Southwest Desert Almanac Conference. https://www.schoolgardenalmanac.org/home

The Southwest Desert School Gardeners’ Almanac Conference website contains garden-based teaching materials including cases/lesson guides, white papers, and other publications related to fostering garden-based science teaching in elementary schools. NSF DRK-12 sponsored the event that drew dozens of educators from around the southwest ecoregion to demonstrate best practices and learn from each other.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [2146751].