Competitions and Grants, FREE stuff, School garden

Growing Good Gardens Grant 2022

Posted on by Erica
16
Jun

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.

Minibeast of the moment, Pests and Weeds, School garden

Vegemite Snail Trap

Posted on by Erica
01
Jun

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 →

Garden activities for kids, Vegie on View

Writing Names on Fruit and Vegies

Posted on by Erica

Message on a Banana
Message on a Banana

WRITING NAMES AND DESIGNS ON FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
Scratching your children’s name into growing pumpkins, zucchinis or melons is such a fun and simple activity, but it gives the children months’ worth of enjoyment as they watch their creations grow!
Here are 3 tried and tested edibles that work really well for this activity:

  • Pumpkins, zucchinis (and any other members of the squash family)
  • Watermelon
  • Passion fruit (scratch your design while they’re still green)

Continue reading →

Other, School garden

Queensland Students put Healthy Eating Back on the Table

Posted on by Erica
21
Oct

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 →

Competitions and Grants, FREE stuff, Garden activities for kids, School garden, Vegie on View

Winter Vegie Growing Competition

Posted on by Erica
19
Feb

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 →

Competitions and Grants, School garden, Uncategorized

250 Garden Grants up for Grabs

Posted on by Erica
02
Feb

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 →

Competitions and Grants

Can You Make a Perfect ‘Pitch’ of Green? Grants Now Open

Posted on by Erica
06
May

Junior Landcare grant
Turf Australia and Landcare Australia are searching for the best “pitch” for your patch – with the launch today of the Perfect Pitch of Green – a continuation of a grants program for schools and youth groups wanting to green up their sporting field or reinvigorate an outdoor learning area.
With 2014 being the year of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Junior Landcare and the peak body for turf growers have come up with a new take on the in-kind grants program for freshly grown grass.
This year, 10 lucky schools will be chosen to receive natural turf covering an area of up to 200 square metres – the equivalent to the goalmouth of a standard sporting field. The grass can be used to update sports areas, enhance outdoor learning areas, or create more spaces for playing.
Continue reading →

Competitions and Grants

Yates and Junior Landcare Winter Vegie Challenge

Posted on by Erica
03
Mar

Junior Landcare Winter Vegie Challenge
With school just back and many community groups having their first get-togethers for the year, young people will be reminded about the foods that thrive in winter, with the launch of the Yates Junior Landcare Challenge – Winter Vegie Growing Journey.
The Challenge, which opens for registrations on 3rd March 2014, is a new take on the annual campaign run by Yates and Landcare Australia, which since 2008 has been encouraging young people to learn about growing their own food through hands-on experience. This is the first time the focus has been on winter vegetables, with entrants asked to write about their experiences and engage online through photo and story submissions.
Continue reading →

Other, School garden

Our Top 5 Books about Gardening and Nature

Posted on by Erica
20
Dec

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 →

Garden activities for kids, Our environment, School garden

How to Build a Lizard Lounge in Your Garden

Posted on by Erica
06
Sep

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 →