This document introduces a toolkit for educators to involve 5-8 year old students in exercises that spread awareness of food deserts, environmental impact, and personal health through gardening and recycling activities. The toolkit provides 9 carefully curated exercises that teach students about upcycling, drip irrigation systems, naming and taking ownership of a garden, planting, plant identification, composting, and preparing fresh foods. Each exercise addresses an issue, proposes a solution, and outlines a hands-on activity for students. Additional resources are included to help educators explain the benefits of the approaches.
2. About The
Toolkit
Welcome, Educator!
With your leadership and the active
involvement of your 5-8 year olds, this toolkit
will spread tactical awareness of food deserts,
environmental impact and personal health
throughout our inner city communities.
Use the exercises below to involve your kids to
do great things!
Tiny Garden Toolkit
3. How to Use This Toolkit
This toolkit is comprised of carefully curated
exercises that your students will enjoy putting into
practice.
Exercises can be done in any order you decide. We
encourage you to collaborate with your class and
create a plan together.
Tiny Garden Toolkit
4. "We do not inherit the earth
from our ancestors, we
borrow it from our
children."
N A T I V E A M E R I C A N P R O V E R B
Tiny Garden Toolkit
6. Tiny Garden Toolkit
56% of people don't reuse or
recycle
41% of solid waste is paper
& cardboard
Issue
Build a Birdfeeder
Teach students about
upcycling versus recycling,
and create awareness of
nature.
Solution
Students build
biodegradable bird feeders
out of discarded toilet paper
tubes.
Activity
7. Tiny Garden Toolkit
Traditional methods of
watering gardens wastes
water;
Plastic takes 500+ years to
biodegrade
Issue
Build a Drip Irrigation
System
Teach students how to
upcycle plastic bottles to
create an efficient method of
watering a community
garden.
Solution
Students create a drip
irrigation system for their
garden using plastic bottles.
Activity
8. Tiny Garden Toolkit
Children don't have a focus
for civic pride or
engagement in their
neighborhoods
Issue
Name Your Garden
Students name the garden
and take ownership of the
space through art.
Solution
Use food harvested from
garden to prepare a salad for
students to try various types
of vegetables.
Activity
9. Tiny Garden Toolkit
Children lack awareness of
how gardening works and
the sources of their food.
Issue
Design Your Garden
Students learn about what to
plant, how to plant, and
where to plant.
Solution
Students plan the layout of a
garden bed.
Activity
10. Tiny Garden Toolkit
Children are not able to
identify plants just from
looking at them.
Issue
Create Plant Stakes
Students explore their
artistic side and create
colorful stakes to help
organize their garden and
label rows of plants.
Solution
Students plan the layout of a
garden bed, including plant
selection and spacing within
the bed.
Activity
11. Tiny Garden Toolkit
Students are not aware of
the growth cycle of plants
from seed to plant.
Issue
Start Your Seeds
Students learn about the
plant cycle by growing plants
from seeds, planting in the
garden, tending the garden,
harvesting food, and
gathering more seeds to start
again.
Solution
Have students select a
vegetable seed, plant it in
seed starter mix, and watch
it grow. At 8 weeks, students
thin seedlings; at 12 weeks,
students "harden" seedlings,
at 14 weeks, students plant.
Activity
12. Tiny Garden Toolkit
Students don't feel
personally connected to
their garden.
Issue
Paint Your Compost Bin
Students explore their
artistic side and paint the
garden compost bin.
Solution
Students come up with a
name for the garden and
then design and make a sign
for the garden.
Activity
13. Tiny Garden Toolkit
Students are not aware of
the nutrients needed in soil
to grow food, nor of how to
create nutrient rich soil from
food waste.
Issue
Learn About Composting
Students learn about how
food waste breaks down and
becomes nutrient-rich.
Solution
Create a set of compost/do
not compost flashcards that
can be used to teach what
can and cannot be
composted. Paste photos of
food that can be composted
to the cards and
Activity
14. Tiny Garden Toolkit
Children are not accustomed
to fresh food grown locally.
Issue
Prepare a Salad
Students are exposed to
fresh food and methods of
preparation.
Solution
Use food harvested from the
garden to prepare a salad for
students to try various types
of vegetables.
Activity
15. Toolkit Resources
Use this page to learn more about each of the
exercises in this toolkit. In depth videos and
explanation resources will help your students
understand the benefits of these approaches.
Tiny Garden Toolkit
16. Resources
1. Build a Bird Feeder
2. Design a Drip Irrigation System
3. Name Your Garden & Make a Sign
4. Design Your Garden
5. Create Plant Stakes
6. Starting Your Seeds
7. Paint Your Compost Bin
8. Learn About Composting
9. Prepare Your Salad
Tiny Garden Toolkit
17. Summary
We hope you've enjoyed your
journey with us as we work to
eliminate food deserts in inner
cities.
Please, send us your feedback and
think of your own exercises to
enhance this project. Together we
can impact the environment directly
in our local communities.
Tiny Garden Toolkit
