HOW TO: Get the front garden soil beds ready for planting potatoes with six small children aged 19 months to 3 years old.

WHAT:

Adrian, Suzie and I invited the children at Jellybeans to do some gardening in the front garden, specifically preparing soil in our front garden planters for planting potatoes. The idea is that, instead of the flowers that have been growing over the summer, we will grow potatoes. Once the potatoes are planted, it means gardening and tending the potatoes is more easily physically accessed by the children on the days we don’t want to walk over to our allotment plot at Mudchute (Plot 62). Our yummy spuds will be right on our front doorstep to keep an eye on and water.

FIRST:

First, we took the six children out to our front garden and presented the activity to all the children simultaneously. We had all our tools, new bags of compost and several buckets ready. We talked about the soil beds and our plan to be planting potatoes next year, but that we first need to get the planters “ready” by removing existing flower bulbs and weeds, and adding new compost. Adrian says the “weeds” are plants in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Adrian and I demonstrated all the hand movements the children need to do with the mini trowels and garden forks. To remove the existing bulbs it’s: “dig in around in a circle, and then lever out”. To pull the weeds it’s: “pull on the green bits at the bottom”. To turn over the soil it’s: “push in with the trowel, and turn over with the wrist”, so the old soil flops up to the top. This attention to, and isolating out, of the gestures is a very Montessori thing.

MEANWHILE:

Meanwhile, the two year olds have not quite got through the full briefing and have already started getting tools and doing little digs in the soil. The three year olds have listened patiently and work together to pull big handfuls of weeds out (with moderate success). The 19 month old is pottering nearby with the buckets.

Adrian, Suzie and I started guiding the children to pull up weeds, dig over the soil and place the flower bulbs carefully in the small buckets. The 19 month old enjoyed scooping handfuls of new compost into the planters.

CURRICULUM:

In terms of our curriculum, this activity gives us the opportunity to enable the more obvious physical aspects of fine motor skills, tool control, hand to eye coordination and transferring of materials from one place to another. The children will also benefit emotionally from the sensory nature of their hands in the soil. And all the children are offered a wide range of new vocabulary and language regarding the tools, the actions and the materials, as we describe various things such as “plant”, “potato”, “weed”, “pull”, “turn”, “wrist”, “trowel”, “soil”, “more”, and “less”.

However, what is perhaps the most powerful aspect of Montessori learning here is that of the children’s own impact upon nature and culture. The children enjoy a practical, real-world example of growing plants in their own natural environment. They will be taking care of, and responsible for, the food they will eat next summer. With such acts of care in the natural environment, and I don’t think Maria Montessori was being metaphorical here, the children can contribute to the Cosmic Plan that she envisioned: children ultimately tending and healing our world.

Montessori’s Cosmic Plan is no less aspirational than gardening with six under threes. We look forward to hopefully eating some lovely organic home-grown potato wedges in Summer 26.