Projects
On-line lesson plans and more-involved projects
Here you'll find more detailed lesson plans and activities, as well as on-line curriculum materials. However, you can still pick and choose among them, selecting portions of curricula or individual activities for your program.
New: Children's Garden Consultants - Youth participants become experts in children's garden design and educational programming by critically examining and comparing a wide variety of children's gardens, and exploring ways in which children's gardens can be improved. Engages youth in a meaningful learning process while giving voice and due recognition to the youth perspective.
New: Greener Voices - Engaging children and youth in meaningful community-greening and garden-based learning activities.
Discovering the Food System - An experiential learning program for anyone who is curious about food, how it gets from farm to table, and how we, as eaters, are involved in that system.
Citizen Science in Horticulture - While a number of citizen science projects are in progress, this link directs you to two innovative sites that compile information from your fellow gardeners to help track a new insect pest and you decide vegetable varieties you might want to try. We would like to encourage more children, youth, families, 4-H groups, and classrooms to add to participate in these sites.
Plants and Textiles - Focuses on past and present technologies that convert plant materials into fibrous products. Project activities include paper making, rope making, indigo dyeing, mat weaving, and knot netting.
Children's Garden Teen Consultants - A new program "in the works" to engage teens in a process to learn about children's garden education and design, and then tell adults what works, what doesn't, what could be improved, and what's missing.
Horticulture Study Guide for Youth 180 plant profiles plus images to help youth study for the New York Horticulture Contest.
Radishes to Riches: A Produce Marketing Project for Youth - (1992) This work- book/manual helps youth or adults plan what to grow and how to market the crop. Provides a hands-on experience of producing the crop and carrying out a marketing plan to sell that crop for a profit. 24 pp. workbook. Out of print but available online [2 MB .pdf file]
Vegetable Fare: Displaying Vegetables at Their Best (1991) - Covers proper harvest and storage with emphasis on exhibiting at fairs. Teaches general principles and provides specifics on more than 35 crops. 48 pp. Out of print but available online [13 MB .pdf file].
Young People's Guide to Landscaping (1985) - Background and activity ideas, including design, transplanting, hardscaping and more. 19 pp. workbook. Out of print but available online [5.6 MB .pdf file]
Sowing the Seeds of Success - Details the steps needed to initiate and sustain a gardening project involving kids, teachers, administrators, and community volunteers.
Heirloom Gardening - Several resources to help you dig deeper into the historical "roots" of gardening.
NYS Junior Master Gardeners - An international youth gardening program of the University Cooperative Extension network that engages children in novel, "hands-on" group and individual learning experiences that encourage a love of gardening, develop an appreciation for the environment, and cultivate the mind.