1. Easy science projects for little kids - bean in the jar, etc.

2. Garden arts and crafts

3. Your favorite gardening memories - there was a great thread about this that should be kept.

Thanks Chris,

"Bean in a jar"? That's germination?

Easy Science projects for children are good for these FAQs as long as they are related to gardening.

Garden A&C for children is good.

I will look for the memories thread to glean ideas from it, I'll research them from several sources and if they're worthy I'll do an FAQ on them.

I will also be looking at teacher recourses. I recently completed a series of seminars at NYiT specifically for teaching continuing ed. I have been invited to travel to Virginia to teach Winter Sowing a USO youth group at the end of December, and I'll go to VA again in January to teach a USO adult ed group.

FYI....my personal style is to do heavy research and then my own writing. I am now a member of the Garden Writers Association.

Trudi

PS.....does anyone have any FAQ suggestions for "special needs" children? I can do something on this too.

TGD

I've noticed that the most common question asked around here is how to grow or care for avacodo seeds. There must be one on every page of this forum, yet it seems to be asked over and over again. Great information and answers have been made on this question but if we could maybe get it on FAQ then we could move on to something else.

colleen

OKay! Great suggestion! I remember growing one as a kid too.

Trudi

Trudi,
How about a listing of fast germinating seeds. Little one do have a short attention span. Seeing the seeds sprout quickly will keep their interest. WAY back in kindergarden my teacher, Auntie Stewart, did this with us, and got me hooked! Also, plants that are easy to grow to attract butterflies and hummers. Large seeds that are easy for little hands to plant. Maybe a short, easy to read "how to" for kids to read.
I want to thank you for the WS forum! What a find and a jewel. I have told everyone about it. I'm so excited! Maybe this year my SAD won't be so bad.
Thanks for taking this on,
Yvonne

Thank you Yvonne, you seem to have read my mind with many of your suggestions.

Growing a sunflower can be a lot of joy for a little one. I sprouted marigolds in cups made from our snack-milk containers in 2nd grade. I was so proud when my Mom planted them in the garden and they grew and bloomed.....I think that got me hooked too.

I'll be working on some FAQs this weekend and next week I'll add Spike to put in a link for them on the forum homepage.

I hope you'll like the first FAQ I have completed.

Trudi

Here is a link that might be useful: There are NO dumb or stupid questions!

Bean in a jar - put the bean seed against the glass so you can see all parts of the plant developing. This was a big hit with our 3 year old. You can use different seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, etc.) in the same jar to compare.

Another thread I would like to see is a list of public gardens with attractions geared towards children.

Also, a list of books would be useful. You can start with the hideous one that Gertrude Jekyll wrote, for historical interest only.

I am the editor on the Mid-Atlantic page and I find that for some threads it is useful to keep as much of the contributors' "voice" as possible. What can I say - some people are much funnier writers than I am. Here is an example:

Here is a link that might be useful: My Stupidest Gardening Mistake - or - We were once all Newbies

This is the first time I've looked at this forum, so my suggestion may have already been discussed at length.

I think an faq about what parents and adults shouldn't do or things likely to discourage children from taking an active interest should be included.

Speaking from experience, I really didn't like having to hoe and weed my Mom's vegetable garden. It was alot of work for a kid who would rather be playing. My sisters felt the same. All of are now active gardeners but it took a few years to overcome the association of gardening as a forced instead of voluntary effort. One sister took a 20+ year break from gardening and still loves to tell about picking potato bugs while the other kids were off playing.

Trudi,
I started a school garden program last spring at my grandchildren's school. That's when I found this forum. (I was already a fan of the Gardenweb.) I have learned a lot about starting and running a school garden program during the last year and continue to learn everyday. I would be happy to share what I've learned and hope others will do the same. I hope we can come up with simple, practical lessons plans for all ages. Too many of the ones I've seen are based on simulated gardening experience. I'm looking for ones that actually involve working in the dirt. I would also like to suggest a seed exchange for school garedners. And lots of photos. I would also like to get out the message that starting a garden program does not have to take lots of money. We've managed to develop one that involves more than 1,200 1-4th graders, with an expendure of only a couple hundred dollars. Here are my photos, I hope others will share as well. Roberta
http://home.fuse.net/grandmashouse/Newsnews.htm