St. Paul’s UM Preschool is blessed to share the joy of gardening with our preschoolers thanks to the lovely garden which was built by one of our dads, Mike Van Fleet.  Gardening offers our little ones hands-on learning opportunities and offers a wonderful sensory experience.  In addition to the joy of playing (planting) in the dirt, gardening helps children learn valuable lessons about patience as they wait for vegetables to grow, responsibility as they see how necessary their care is to the garden, and teamwork, as they share in the tending of their garden with their classmates. Gardening helps our young children understand where fresh food comes from, and are fascinated in watching their vegetables pulled from the ground.

Planting their own garden helps transform children’s food attitudes and habits, and encourages more healthful food choices, as the children are usually excited to eat vegetables they have grown themselves. We are very grateful to the Denton, Schmitz, Wicke, Kaufman, Paugh, Bissmeyer, Haggerty, Burt, Fletcher and Van Fleet families who have so generously donated to our garden, and to our resident gardener, Mrs. Hendrickson.

Excited to see our peas sprouting after only one week!