Becky & Jessica’s Place Daycare in Van Buren Township has been growing a garden with the children at the daycare for the past ten years.
The children have learned more from this experience than we could have ever imagined. They have learned to recognize longer words that we never taught in our reading program, such as the words tomatoes, strawberry, squash, etc.
They tasted vegetables that we thought they would never even try, just because they were the vegetables that THEY grew. They learned the differences between a weed and a plant. They got very excited when after watering plants for many weeks that vegetables not only grew, but at times changed colors as they grew.
This year we decided to seek another objective with the children. We decided to teach them the words community, responsibility, and donations. They learned that even though they are young, they could still have the responsibility of donating their vegetables to the part of the community who were less fortunate than themselves.
Having said this, we then took our vegetables to the Belleville First United Methodist Church in Belleville and donated the food to those who come to get much-needed food to feed their families. The children were all very proud of their great act of kindness. It was a very memorable experience for all.
Becky Thornell
Van Buren Township