Education Resources

Whether learning is a central goal of your garden or not, providing opportunities for gardeners to build their skills and knowledge in the garden will ultimately make for a more engaged garden community and more successful garden season. Here are some basic tips to get you started:  Building Successful Garden Education Programs.

Some questions you may want to ask yourselves as you’re setting up garden education programming:

  • What knowledge and skills are already available within my garden community?
  • What barriers might there be to participation in garden education opportunities?
  • What do people want to learn? What do they need to learn to be successful?

If you’re operating your garden program in a school or early care setting, here are some resources to guide you in our outdoor learning journey:

  • Check out our post with tips and related resources for Bringing Your Classroom Outside, exploring challenges and opportunities in outdoor learning.
  • Education Outside offers extensive resources for educators engaging in outdoor learning, including topics like culturally inclusive outdoor classrooms, best practices for teaching in the school garden, cooking outside, curriculum, and more.
  • View VCGN’s Successful School Garden Video Series, produced in 2014 to highlight successful and innovative approaches to community involvement, curriculum integration and engaging youth.

Whatever knowledge you can’t find in your own garden community, you’re likely to find it in your broader community.  Additionally, there are a wealth of garden learning resources in the library and on the web – we’ve included some of our favorite youth gardening curriculum resources below. General gardening resources can be found on our Growing in the Garden page.

Garden-based Youth Curriculum & Activity Resources

Vermont Garden-based Curriculum Resources

Other Favorite Websites with Garden-based Curriculum Resources & Publications

A Sampling of Books on Youth Garden-based Learning

  • Coblyn, S. (2001). French Fries and the Food System: A year-round curriculum connecting youth with farming and food. Lincoln, MA: The Food Project.
  • Gale, G. (2001). Growing Together: A guide for building inspired, diverse and productive youth communities. Lincoln, MA: The Food Project
  • Kiefer , J., Kemple, M., and American Community Gardening Association (1998). Digging Deeper: Integrating Youth Gardens Into Schools & Communities. Montpelier, VT: Food Works, Common Roots Press.
  • Larson, Nathan, Teaching in Nature’s Classroom: Core Principles of Garden-based Education: http://www.teachinginnaturesclassroom.org
  • Life Lab, Curricula & Activity Guides: https://lifelab.org/new-store/
  • Parrella, Deborah. Project Seasons: Hands-On Activities for Discovering the Wonders of the World. Shelburne Farms, 1995.
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