Kangaroo Kids are now reaping the harvest of their spring planting and the long hot summer of tending their garden.  They have a totally organic garden with many cucumbers, peppers, squash, pumpkins, mint, tomatoes, flowers, and herbs of all varieties.  Even the youngest two year olds have helped to care for the garden and it has flourished under the direction of Diana Flores, Kangaroo Kids Discovery Preschool Lead Teacher. 
What child doesn’t like to play in the dirt, make mud pies, or check out the bugs and worms? Because children are naturally curious, they can learn many lessons through gardening.
Children learn about Science by studying the life cycle of plants, and discussing what plants needs to grow? Math skills can be reinforced with such activities as measuring the length or circumference of the produce, counting seeds, spacing the plants, or comparing the sizes of seeds.  A rain gauge can also be used to measure the amount of rainfall.  Kangaroo Kids teachers read the children books about gardening to enhance their Language & Reading experiences.  They explore seed catalogs to decide what to plant and review recipe books to decide how to use their harvests.
Gardening can teach children how to be responsible by feeding, weeding and watering their garden as well as giving them a sense of accomplishment as they watch what they have nurtured grow into edible products.

The community is welcome to visit Kangaroo Kids garden and share in some of the harvests.  You can see more photos by “liking” Kangaroo Kids Child Care and Learning Facebook page.  The next Community Event will be Kangaroo Kids Fall Festival on Friday October 23rd.    Call 908-231-7800 to learn about all the upcoming Community events at Kangaroo Kids.