THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of you who have taken time to plant a seed with your child this month, this season, this year. The world needs more people like YOU!
If you are planning on planting a seed with a child or even a classroom of children, here is a little certificate you can print out and send home with them, as we truly believe that every tiny seed is important.
Anytime starting, March 31st, if you plant a seed and share a picture on your social media sites, feel free to tag #plantaseed to connect with other like-minded families. (Don’t be surprised if we comment or share your pictures!)
A special THANK YOU goes out to our talented writing team. We appreciate you sharing your passions with us and inspiring us to #plantaseed with our children.
Our 2014 Garden Ambassador Team:
Vanessa Vargas Wilson, The Crafty Gemini, is known for her easy to follow instructional videos on her YouTube channel – TheCraftyGemini. A law professor turned mompreneur, Vanessa shares her lifestyle and crafty skills with a global audience via the web. She teaches viewers how to do everything from sewing and quilting to organic gardening and canning.
Matthew Hiemstra is a gardener and garden blogger. I started a worldwide gardening project known as Garden Connect in an effort to connect gardeners around the world.
Jacquie Fisher is the founder of Edventures with Kids , a blog that shares unique ideas for keeping kids creative & curious. She believes that kids are more likely to enjoy learning when they are offered hands-on activities and the opportunity to explore new places. Edventures’ encourage families to try new activities, get outdoors, travel together and connect kids with great books.
Kara is the founder of ALLterNATIVElearning.com. She is a tot schooler and is passionate about living a natural, “leave no trace” lifestyle while raising her children to be eco-conscious.
Jodie Rodriguez is a mom of two little boys (2 and 3), a National Board Certified educator and creator of the Growing Book by Book blog. Jodie has a passion for early literacy and all things related to reading.
MaryAnne lives in Silicon Valley, California with her husband and four children, aged 8, 6, 4, and 18 months. Her blog, Mama Smiles – Joyful Parenting is about celebrating joy in everyday parenting through creativity, learning, and play.
Betsy Finn – Betsy is a photographer, outdoors enthusiast, and mother. Homesteading and gardening experiments are right up Betsy’s alley — last year, the whole family assembled four 4×8 garden beds, put dirt in and plant over 200 seeds and seedlings that had been started indoors. Betsy blogs at BPhotoArt.com.
Gailina lives in Italy. She is a mother of two curious kids who she is raising trilingual in Russian, Italian and English. She reflects on her experience and gives a practical advice to parents raising their children bilingual or multilingual on the pages of her blog – Raising a Trilingual Child .
Nadia is a teacher turned mommy to an almost 4 year old girl and 14 month old boy. She blogs over at Teach me Mommy about easy and playful activities with the aim to teach.
Nicolette Roux Nicolette is a stay-at-home mom of three kids, four years old and younger. You will often find her on the floor at kid level, learning through play. Simple and easy activities and crafts are the most popular with her little ones and she shares these on the blog called Powerful Mothering.
Anna taught for eight years and received her MEd before staying home to raise her kids (ages 6,5,3,2, and infant). She loves to share free education resources and printables on her site, The Measured Mom.
Kimberly’s days are full of fun, and learning with her five children. She home-schools her boys and enjoys tons of toddler activities with her sweet baby girl. Join her at Natural Beach Living, where she writes about homeschooling, tot school, nature’s treasures, natural simple living, and much more.
Helen I’m Helen and this is Peakles my three year old daughter. We have been growing crops in planters, caring for our garden wildlife and writing about it on our website called Peakle Pie. Over the past year we have explored companion planting, released butterflies and been on so many different adventures.
Sandi. I am a learner, a kindergarten teacher, a mum (by Skype – both kids are away at university) – and a wearer of rubber boots and elf shoes. Playing in the garden comes under the rubber boots category. photo: planting on an organic farm in Turkey (with my friend Huria whose English was no better than my Turkish – but we both laughed in the same language) Connect with her Rubber Boots and Elf shoes blog.
The Fairy and The Frog’s mum wears many hats, as well as being a mum of 2, an avid coffee drinker and keen (but not always successful) gardener, she is also a pediatric Speech and Language Therapist (Pathologist) and blogger. The Fairy and The Frog is packed full of play based learning, tips for developing language, craft and family friendly activities.
Dayna is a National Board Certified teacher with over 12 years of experience in the primary classroom. She recently began homeschooling her 3 children against her will. She writes at Lemon Lime Adventures, where she writes about the trials and errors of their life, life living as a blended family, and dealing with a son with Sensory Processing Disorder.
Carly Seifert lives in Montana with her husband and two children (ages 5 and 1). She blogs at Africa to America, where she candidly shares her thoughts and experiences about adoption, parenting, and learning and serving with her children.
Melissa of Mama Miss is a work-from-home, homeschooling, mama of two. Her background and education lie in fashion design and she is also a self taught photographer & graphic designer. She uses her creative skills to bring crafty original experiences to her kids and her home.
Victoria is a stay-at-home-mum of two beautiful girls (3 years and 13 months). She is also the voice of the blog, Squiggles and Bubbles where she shares all the fun they get up to during the day.
Birute Efe has daily fun at her kids activities blog Playtivities. She loves creating activities and toys for her 2 kiddos by up-cycling household items, so she will never walk pass by a big cardboard box or a pile of old magazines. She believes the best learning comes from exploring and creating. Connect with her through social media: Pinterest and Facebook
Getting Started in 3 Easy Steps by Birute Efe
DARIA World Music children’s performer DARIA(Daria Marmaluk-Hajioannou) has spent the last two decades performing in the USA and around the world, creating music to inspire all the world’s children. Along with numerous national awards for her culturally diverse music, Daria’s website (www.dariamusic.com) was given a Parent’s Choice Award and offers many great resources for teachers, parents and kids of all abilities.
La Famille Brown – we are the Brown family who in 2013 decided to move from familiar life in London, UK, to a small village in the Tarn-et-Garonne region of South West France. Our blog follows our journey of French village life, setting up new businesses, and recipes, crafts and gardening adventures for all the family. Come and follow in our chicken keeping journey as we will learn how to take care of them, decide whether to give them names, and collect our first eggs!
Julie Corby has written for several publications including Brain, Child and Adoptive Families. She currently writes columns for InCulture Parent and Adoption.net. Originally from the midwest, she now spends her days avoiding the Los Angeles freeways, searching for the city’s strongest cup of coffee, and most importantly looking after her two amazing children. Her blog is: http://theeyesofmyeyesareopened.blogspot.com/
Becky of Kid World citizen is a master teacher, talented writer and expert in Global Education .Becky and Kid World Citizen on your favorite social media!
Best Vegetables to Grow with Kids
Amandine Born and raised in the French countryside, Amandine is now a mother of two active boys living in the Sunshine State, Florida. Finding my way through culture shock and an unexpected honorary career that I never thought would be so demanding but yet so life-changing. I am re-creating myself at thirty through my children. For more of her writing, you may be interested in this article she wrote on designing a home learning space.
Lisa Lewis, MD has an interest in medical and parenting philosophies of other countries. Dr. Lewis’s writings currently involve helping families and children enjoy cultured, healthy futures.
Kitchen Counter Chronicles In my “previous life” I was a mental health professional…in my current life I am a stay-at-home mom with 2 beautifully adventurous kids. I share everything that lands on my kitchen counter over on my blog, Kitchen Counter Chronicles. Swing by and learn how we are greening their lives; what we are crafting, cooking and reading. While you will often us inside the kitchen, you will also find us out and about getting our hands dirty, exploring and learning outdoors.
Best Flowers to Grow with Kids
Katie has been an Early Childhood Teacher for 12 years, and she is the mother to two delightful children who are three and five years old. She administrated a corporate preschool before opening up her own private preschool inside of her home three years ago. She loves being able to combine two of her greatest passions, motherhood and teaching. You can find ideas and inspiration on her blog at Preschool Inspirations.
Together, let’s inspire more parents and teachers to garden with their children!
#plantaseed
What will you GROW in your GARDEN???
Here a peek at all of their gardening ideas to do with your child…
Thank you so much for your kind words Sandi – we had a lot of fun too. Keep coming back for more. We're hoping to post a gardening article every week for the season!
We are so glad you were able to join us! My garden connect is doing well. I hope to post an update soon!
Thanks for hosting this series Kim and Amanda. Looking forward to getting dirt under my fingernails and growing things with this year's kindergarten kids.
This comment has been removed by the author.
It's been a pleasure, reading through everyone else's posts and writing my own. I'm especially eager to start working with local schools to develop gardening clubs! I got the ball rolling a couple weeks ago and things are moving along well! Can't wait! Now if only it would warm up…