Growing Good Gardens Grant 2022

Life Ed are encouraging young people to get gardening, growing edible plants and learning healthy eating habits or creating a healthy class room environment with indoor plants.

Help create a classroom of thriving students! Together with Yates we’re encouraging young people to get gardening, and learn healthy habits – from the ground up! 

Thanks to Yates, Healthy Harold and Life Ed are giving away $11,000 worth of grants. Schools, preschools and community groups are invited to apply for one of 10 garden grants valued at $1,000 each. 

This year our friends at Yates are also giving one school/community group the opportunity to DOUBLE their grant and receive $2,000 for your school garden.  

Getting kids out into the garden helps to create healthy minds and healthy bodies so they can thrive.   

Teachers, coaches and community leaders alike are encouraged to apply to create a garden space where kids can learn healthy habits and improve their physical and mental well-being. 

Since 2018, through our Growing Good Gardens Grant program, schools and community groups have turned outdoor spaces into fun hands-on learning gardens that connect kids with healthy eating, encouraging physical activity and extending the classroom curriculum. 

Help grow a classroom of thriving students – enter your school or community group today!  For more information and to apply, head to the Life Education website.

Victorian Schools Invited to Apply for Sustainability Grants

200 grants of up to $1,000 are currently up for grabs for schools, childcare centres and youth groups in Victoria looking to work on a sustainability or environmental project in 2018.
Following a successful first year, which saw more than 24,000 students engaged in 245 projects, the Powerful Youth Projects program is rolling out across the state again. Momentum Energy is funding the program through its partnership with Junior Landcare, and applications are open until 22 March via the Junior Landcare website. Continue reading

Vegemite Snail Trap

Vegemite Snail Trap
SNAILS and SLUGS – How to control them with kid-friendly products! 
Gardening can often seem like a constant battle between snails and the gardener, but here is a terrific blog written by Jade and Amy from Growing Green Thumbs.   They are 2 very enthusiastic school mums who spend their days volunteering at their children’s primary school in Bonbeach, Melbourne.   They share their gardening enthusiasm with parents, students and our wider community, learning along the way as they grow fruit, vegetables and flowers whilst making it fun to play outdoors in a sustainable environment. Continue reading

Queensland Students put Healthy Eating Back on the Table

Junior Landcare's Greg Grimes and a student from Martin Luther Primary School
Junior Landcare’s Greg Grimes and a student from Martin Luther Primary School

At 77 schools and kindergartens across the Lockyer Valley, Toowoomba and Somerset, Queensland, students are finishing the day with dirt under their fingernails – and their parents and teachers love it.
It’s all part of a gardening program designed to educate children about the origins of their food, led singlehandedly by Junior Landcare Lockyer, Toowoomba and Somerset coordinator Greg Grimes. The “Healthy Eating, Healthy Children, Healthy Lifestyle Program” is all about making a difference and encouraging children to eat healthy and fresh food from their own gardens.
Now 73, Mr Grimes was a teacher for over 50 years. With a lifelong affinity for the environment, it’s only natural for him to now to volunteer his time and skills to educate children from the garden. Continue reading

Kids' Gardening Books Reviewed

Herbert Peabody and the Incredible Beehive

Finding quality kids gardening books can be a bit of a challenge at times, so this blog reviews two new books on the market; Herbert Peabody and the Incredible Beehive by Bianca C. Ross, illustrated by Tabitha Emma Bray and Garden to Table – A Kid’s Guide to Planting, Growing and Preparing Food by Katherine Hengel.

Herbert Peabody and the Incredible Beehive by Bianca C. Ross, illustrated by Tabitha Emma Bray

What a breath of fresh air! A kid’s book that highlights the benefits of bees to gardens and the environment! Continue reading

Winter Vegie Growing Competition

Winter vegie growing challenge
Yates and Junior Landcare have teamed up again to offer children, families, schools and community groups some fabulous prizes just by growing their own winter vegies and sharing their story.
Yates will be providing free seeds and Gardening 4 Kids stocks plenty of child friendly garden tools, equipment and gloves to help you on your way with the challenge.  And this year, our very own Erica Lovel will be on the judging panel.
Gardening 4 Kids will be offering tips and advice throughout the Challenge via our Facebook and Twitter pages. We will share our successes and our failures! Continue reading

250 Garden Grants up for Grabs

Lower King Community Kindergarten WA
The Coles Junior Landcare Garden Grants program is offering funding of up to $1,000 to schools and youth groups to help create gardens in their grounds and communities.
Coles has sponsored the grants program since 2008, and has seen a broad range of projects come to fruition, including vegetable gardens, composting and worm farms, Indigenous bush tucker gardens and green walls. Continue reading

Gardening and Sustainability Curriculum Resources

IMG_8419 (2)

Bad News for Teachers:            There are less than 3 weeks before kids go back to school!
Good News for Teachers:        Sustainability “How to Guides” and full lesson plans are available on the Landcare Australia website.
Good News for Parents:          The How to Guides are a wonderful resource that can be used in your home garden or natural environment as well. We loved the natural pesticide recipe!
Based on the 2015 Australian Curriculum, the lesson plans include engaging and easy-to-understand teaching and learning sequences.  The lessons plans and How to Guides cover a range of gardening and nature based activities and have been to assist Primary School teachers across Australia. Continue reading

Our Top 5 Books about Gardening and Nature

garden book library quote
There’s a Chinese proverb “A book is like a garden in your pocket!”, and second to seeing seeds grow, nothing inspires junior gardeners better than reading about it in books.
Here’s our top 5  pick of classic picture books about gardening and nature your kids will love reading: Continue reading

How to Build a Lizard Lounge in Your Garden

lizard loungeDo your kids love seeing animals in the garden? Do you want to teach your kids about biodiversity?  Building a lizard lounge ticks both boxes and is a great way to increase biodiversity in your garden. They are easy to make, the kids can use their imagination and creative flair and best of all you will be providing a home for some of our most vulnerable creatures.
To make a lizard lounge in your garden you will need: Continue reading