Preschool

flower with a bee in the center

    • Provide age-appropriate labels for garden beds (tactile pictures, Braille, or large print)

    • Create a touch and feel station with various garden tools and plants

    • Use magnifiers, CCTVs, or other technology to explore plants, related books, or other materials

    • Incorporate social skills support during group time

    • Encourage turn taking, saying please and thank you, and learning how to ask for help to find tools or plants

    • Gardening is a great leisure activity

    • Simply allowing children to learn and explore the concept of gardening will meet this aspect of the ECC

    • Children can practice beginner O&M skills, such as pre-cane skills and directionality, as they explore the gardening space

    • Touch

      • work on tactile discrimination by playing a matching game using different sets of tools, leaves, flowers, or related gardening supplies

      • discuss different types of textures such as smooth, rough, hard, soft, etc.

    • Hearing

      • listen to different outside sounds such as a fountain, wind chime, leaves rustling

      • listen to directions and follow through with one step directions or simple multi-step tasks

    • Taste

      • taste different produce from the garden

    • Smell

      • explore different plant smells, flower aromas, and odors that may be present in a garden

      • see if the children can identify what they smell

    • Sight

      • reinforce use of remaining sight, if applicable, to identify gardening tools, plants, or colors

    • Proprioception

      • many preschool age children benefit from heavy work tasks that can be found in abundance through gardening

      • it is also a great location to teach about gentle touch

      • providing specific instruction in this area can help students with VI learn how much force is needed to pick up heavy objects, and also how to moderate this when handling delicate plants

    • Take a field trip to the farmer’s market, garden supply, or pick your own produce farm

    • Role-play different jobs related to gardening

    • Plant seedlings or bean seeds children can care for and watch grow

    • Harvest produce, learn about different food groups

    • Make a simple snack or meal using garden harvest

    • Help children learn how to express what they need help with, or what they may need to access activities

    • Practice asking for these accommodations

basket of sugar snap peas