Hershey Children’s Garden Cool Plants
(#1 in a new series of 10)

For Shade: 
Curly willow (Salix ‘Scarcuzam’)

Some adults bring their children to Hershey Children’s Garden and become engrossed in exciting adventures and programs — and possibly miss some of the horticultural nuances of this great garden space. Hershey Children’s Garden is a sophisticated and — now in its 10th anniversary season — mature garden with many plantings that any adult gardener or garden enthusiast would love to have in their personal greenspace. Who can blame them?

Here is the first in a series of 10 of our staff’s favorite Hershey Children’s Garden plants, along with their special and unusual properties to appreciate with a child.

This curly willow, located near the pond and tree house, is a favorite with many visitors. I love the sight of its light yellow-green leaves as they emerge in the spring and its dark green mass of tangled branches in the summer. The willow is a great size for the garden space it occupies and is very tough. We lost a third of the branches two winters ago and the tree responded well to winter pruning. A visitor could not even tell the difference. Kids love to hang (not advised) from its weeping branches and the yellow-twisting stems work well in any fall, winter or spring flower arrangement. When visiting with your child, you can jokingly point out the tree as a great pain reliever — just eat the tree — since willows naturally produce ingredients of common aspirin.
 

Come relax under the shade of our weeping willow tree when you visit Hershey Children’s Garden this tenth anniversary season. Oh, and please mark your calendar today — our 10th Birthday Bash is Sunday, June 28 from 5:30 to 8:30. Details coming to our website soon. 

That Means They’re Learning

Wednesday was the opening day of Hershey Children’s Garden tenth anniversary season. I feel extremely privileged and grateful that I get to experience it.

As I start the season, I want to share what I am learning about youth gardening education. When I took this position three and half years ago, I had a tendency to overthink. My experiences over the past several years have taught me the wisdom behind such phrases as "Keep it simple" and "Easy does it." I am learning to stop being such a “teacher” and just let kids experience some aspect of the natural world – a plant, a flower, even a mud pie — in their own way. When a kid tickles the surface of a pond or plunges her fist into the soil, she is learned something profound and connecting with nature in a deep way.

Let your child touch the leaves for heaven’s sake! If your child is dirty, he is probably busy learning. Getting in touch with the life around him. He is getting in touch with himself.
 

Conclusion: Simplicity Itself

I have written a series of blog reflections on David Sobel’s book Childhood and Nature over the past couple of months. It has been fun connecting Sobel’s eight design principles to Hershey Children’s Garden design and activities. Sobel writes in such an engaging way, using great illustrations from his own experience to highlight a principle. . .even if not everyone can relate to romping around some island off the coast of New England with a bunch of kids.

I want to make one final point or observation from my own experience to parents and environmental educators alike. I tend to make what I do unnecessarily complex. What makes Hershey Children’s Garden so successful is simplicity itself. We adults can make children’s garden designs and programming too complex. I thought I had to come up with new and exciting designs and programs every single year. I created unnecessary work for myself. I learned differently.

My work is one of balance. On the one hand, I have discovered that kids love repetition and simplicity. On the other hand, however, there needs to be enough change to keep parents interested year after year. If you are a parent, seeking to garden with the kids, planting the same crops or doing the same craft over and over is not a bad thing. Repetition allows kids to develop mastery and confidence in a skill or space. I do recommend some variation to keep you engaged though. If you find this balance, step back and watch the magic flow.

Principle Six: Small Worlds

I am currently writing a series of post, applying the design concepts David Sobel outlines in his book "Childhood and Nature" to what we do in Hershey Children’s Garden. This is important reading not only if you are designing a garden space, program or activity, but also for environmental educators and parents alike.

Children and adults alike seem naturally drawn to doll houses, model train sets or sand boxes, to worlds in miniature. "Through creating miniature representations of ecosystems or neighborhoods, we help children conceptually grasp the big picture. . .a concrete vehicle for understanding abstract ideas," writes Sobel. Small worlds are simplified, more accessible as all the parts are there in one snap shot.

There are numerous small worlds through out Hershey Children’s Garden. Again, scale is the critical design principle here. Try to convey the concept of habitats in general or wetland systems specifically to a four year old. We do walking through the small prairie, woodland or when dipping fingers in the pond. Food, shelter, water and a place to raise young are all right there in one view.

Parents and teachers can create similar experiences by planting a butterfly garden or building miniature versions of various habitat types using natural materials for example. Actually, just give a child a large cardboard box and room to themselves and whole worlds will unfold before one’s eyes.

 Prinicple Five: Special Places

I am currently writing a series of posts applying the design concepts David Sobel outlines in his book, "Childhood and Nature," to what we do in Hershey Children’s Garden. This is important reading not only if you are designing a garden space, program or activity, but also for environmental educators and parents alike.

"Almost everyone remembers a fort, den, tree house, or hidden corner in the back of a closet," writes Sobel. "Especially between ages eight and eleven, children like to find and create places where they can hide away and retreat into their own found or constructed spaces."  Almost any one I talk to speaks of Hershey Children’s Garden as a "special place" for their children. Why? The answer is simple: right ingredients. Children naturally like to build and occupy spaces of their own. With the right factors aligned, watch the spontaneous secret hide away appear.

The Children’s Garden consists of a series of pre-constructed "special places" like the rock wall cave, tree house, maze, giant reed grass bed and our little house on the prairie, to name a few. These spaces are at the right scale for children to feel comfortable and to own, but scale is not the only factor to consider. I have also seen children create an impromptu fort out of a couple of shrubs. Encouraging students to build their own special places in the school yard or classroom where they can carry on some creative work enhances curriculum.   

So what factors does Sobel note, and are found, in Hershey Garden?

• Right age group (ages 8 to 11)
• Lots of flotsam and jetsam or "loose parts" or small things for them to use to build or transform their imaginative world (think flowers, sticks, berries, cones, etc.)
• Open-minded adults who encourage the creation of special places (Parents or teachers hint, hint)

That’s it! It is that simple. If you are still not sure how to get started, come here and well show you how.

Posted by Josh Steffen

Principle Four: Maps and Paths  

Posted by Josh Steffen
 

Principle Three: Animal (and Plant) Allies

I am currently writing a series of posts, applying the design concepts David Sobel outlines in his book, Childhood and Nature, to what we do in Hershey Children’s Garden. This is important reading not only if you are designing a garden space, program or activity, but also for environmental educators and parents alike.

We all know children are naturally drawn to animals. The characters of many children’s stories are personified animals and the animal characters are used in many indigenous folk tales to teach life lessons. One of the most common questions I get from kids in school groups that I greet is, "Are we going to see any aminals?" Forget the animals pal, you are here to make conversation with leaves! 

Sobel’s point that parents and educators alike must harness this tendency in children, in age appropriate ways, was one of the big points I took away from the book. For example, discussing species extinction with a four year old will not have the same impact as it would on a sophomore or junior in high school. Kids first need to identify with animals (ages 2-6) and then learn basic care (ages 7-14).

Extinction and bio-diversity, etc. are largely regional and global topics not appropriate for most toddlers who come to Hershey Children’s Garden. We want kids to fall in love with the created world before we ask them to care for it or become it’s stewards. Honestly, this is a design principle we are learning to better utilize in our planting designs and program delivery, and one of the greatest challenges we face is helping kids identify with something so foreign to them, a plant. The technique I use the most is movement. I first help kids realize plants are alive like themselves (a hurdle in and of itself). Then, we play-act what a plant might be going through. We may pretend to be seeds planted underground, squatting to the earth. We grow roots with some rain fingers and then begin to stretch our arm branches to the sky and develop flowers and fruits, etc. I might discuss the how and why’s of watering a plant, pretending to be a wilting plant. Together, we act out how a drooping plant begins to feel once the children provide water. How about you? Do you have any great ways to encourage identification with plants and animals?

Posted by Josh Steffen

The Overarching Goal

 

I agree with author and researcher David Sobel that a child must first love something before they will take care of it. So much of environmental education seeks to horrify children concerning those nasty invading alien species without allowing anyone time to fall in love with what was, and is, here now. I recently commented on Dr. Sobel’s book, “Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators.” Sobel relies upon thirty plus years of research and observation to elucidate eight design principles that the Hershey Children’s Garden incorporates. These principles are important to consider, whether you are designing a garden space or a garden program/activity, whether you are an environmental educator or a parent.

I would like to begin another eight-part series talking about each of the following principles:

• Adventures
• Fantasy and Imagination
• Animal Allies
• Maps and Paths
• Special Places
• Small Worlds
• Hunting and Gathering

Please join me over the next several weeks as I attempt to illustrate the application of these principles here at the Garden as well as what you can do in your own backyard.

Post by Josh Steffen

Creating Mystical Experiences

David Sobel points out in chapter two of his book Childhood and Nature, one of the keys to adult environmental values is early childhood experiences with wild and "domesticated" wild places. Children who experience nature in a transcendent fashion grow up seeking to nurture and care for the planet. Sobel cites a recent Cornell University study where researchers interviewed 2,000 adults from across the country. The researchers found that adult environmental attitudes and behavior are positively linked to formative childhood experiences. Behind every earth conscious adult is a woods, creek or meadow where hours upon hours of play shaped their views of life. It was a sizable tract of wooded land very close to my house and my parents backyard that did it for me.

Absorbing Sobel’s point reinforces the critical role Hershey Children’s Garden plays in the lives of thousands of Northeast Ohio young residents. I can stuff visitors or students with facts to regurgitate on standardized test, but this does not lead to changed attitudes. I only provide the setting in which greater powers instill a love for the natural world. We protect and nurture what we love, not what we memorize. 
 

Posted by Josh Steffen