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Edible gardens in early childhood centres and homes provide a valuable resource for teaching many aspects of the early childhood curriculum while also creating and sustaining a regular growth and supply of fruits and vegetables.

One of the joys of encouraging children into gardening is the pleasure of seeing, tasting and sharing the results of the effort.  Dispositions such as perseverance and curiosity are nurtured through the experience of growing and tending to plants.

Gardening provides a real, as opposed to an artificial, context for the learning of natural science, maths, and language.  

It can be used for setting up life-skills in toddlers and preschool children who will develop good habits, especially in early childhood, that will take hold throughout their lives, research fellow assistant Anna Dawson, of Otago University, told ChildForum. Read more below about what early childhood services are doing  and get some great ideas.

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