Garden Planter STEM Challenge for Spring

STEM Challenge for Spring: Garden Planter Box

A math-intensive STEM challenge that can be useful when planning out a school or home garden.

Practical Skills with STEM

Why try this challenge? In addition to creating something that is useful, students will be honing their spacial reasoning and mathematics skills while designing and creating their garden box. It may even inspire your students to create a full sized garden bed where they can plant their favorite flowers, plants, or vegetables.

Gather Materials for Garden Planter STEM

First, gather all materials needed for the challenge:

You can use items like card stock, paper, and tape, or have students use building bricks or blocks. If you want to have them make a scale model, set a scale for them that make sense based on the materials you have. You can even procure seed packets or find directions online for the appropriate spacing of their seedlings and how many they can fit in their box.

Go Deeper with Math in this STEM Challenge

Have your students explore using a fixed set of materials. Is there an optimal configuration to support the number of seedlings and garden planter box size? Are there configurations that would make more sense in real life? A square is the most efficient area you can get with a fixed perimeter, but would that make it difficult to rid the garden box of weeds or harvest vegetables? These are all considerations your students can think about.

What skills do students work on? In addition to following the Engineering Design Process to complete this challenge, they will see that math is important and helpful outside the classroom, as well as work together with patience and perseverance.

Add more rigor into this activity with the STEM challenge resource (or get the pack of Spring STEM challenges) on Teachers pay Teachers:

Pin these ideas for later:

Simple Mindfulness Practice in the Classroom and Beyond

Implement Mindfulness Practice with Your Kids and Yourself

Hello new friends and old! If you are ready to renew your mindfulness practice, or dive right in for the first time, I am so glad you found this post. One way to nurture positivity at home or in the classroom is through mindfulness practice.

What is mindfulness?

If you aren't familiar with mindfulness, it is basically just being aware. It doesn't sound like much, but our brains and bodies tend to get easily distracted by all of the sensory input we experience on a day to day basis. 

How to Get Started with Mindfulness Practice

The most basic way to practice mindfulness is with breathing. For children, this might be too difficult for them, so you can try practicing while you walk around the perimeter of your classroom or at recess. Try to focus on only your breath as you breath in and out, and to feel all of the sensations of your body. Notice your thoughts and try to clear them and come back to just breathing. Notice your body. Are you tense? Try to release any tense muscles and just breathe.

Why should I practice mindfulness in the classroom?

In addition to many possible health benefits, you will train yourself to live in the moment. The past cannot be changed, and the future is not yet written. By living and being present in the here and now, you will be much more likely to notice simple pleasures and simply enjoy being alive. If you can notice negative feelings before they get too strong, it is easier to release them.

Mindfulness can also help us laugh at ourselves and the world - not in a negative way, but just in an awareness way. Being able to laugh and shrug off minor nuisances can make life so much more enjoyable. I'm not saying you should shrug off the big stuff, but that little stuff? It's really not worth it. You are worth more than that.

A Natural Path to Kindness 

When you are more aware of yourself, you will start to notice when tension is forming. By releasing that tension, you will find it easier to practice kindness. That might help you experience less frustration. How many times do you experience road rage or frustration with your kids for not being ready to leave on time or clean up their toys? There is always a nice way to approach a situation, and when you can find that way in the moment, what a lovely victory that is! I'm not saying this will happen all the time, but it can really change the way a day unfolds.

Mindfulness Practice Tools

I have created a set of guided mindfulness cards to get you started! These are designed to be done either at a desk or standing. You don't need a lot of space for these. I created them with classroom children in mind, so the poses and instructions are very basic, but these also work well if you homeschool or are just looking for something to at home with your children to help keep them centered. These are lifelong tools!

You can download a free sample of four guided mindfulness cards here:

Three Simple Mindful Mantras to Get Started

If you need a few mantras to repeat while you start on your mindfulness practice, these are ones that even kids will understand.

1. I am grateful. Think about all of the things you are grateful for. Food, shelter, a sunny day, a smile from a friend, health, etc. Whatever you do have, you can focus on being appreciative of it instead of worrying about what you don't have.

2. I accept. Accept your limitations and your strengths. Accept that today is a new day and tomorrow will be as well. Accept the situation for what it is. Whatever your feelings are, accept them, too. Then you can move on to the next mantra!

3. I release. Once you have acknowledged your feelings, let them go! If you have tightness in your face, notice it and then release it. If you have been feeling unhappy about a relationship, note it but then let those negative feelings drift away.

Here are three more great ones specifically for kids that you'll want to check out from Left Brain Buddha. There are wonderful activities that go with them, too:
Mindful Mantras for Kids

Not just for the kids! Take care of yourself with mindfulness.

Though these cards have cute images and animals on them, this practice is not just for them. Do you spend a lot of time working on your laptop, hunched over helping your students, or texting with friends?

All of that takes a toll on you. Your neck and back will thank you if you practice these exercises several times a day! Take care of you. Love yourself first and then you can send out your love to others much more easily.

Go Deeper with Mindfulness 

If you are looking for even more mindfulness resources, head on over to Mindfulness Matters and More, which also includes nonviolent communication tips, bucket filling activities, and more!

What can I expect with mindfulness practice?

Mindfulness practice is just like any other practice. The more you do it, the better you will become at it. It might seem silly or odd at first, or you might not feel like it does anything for you at first. In time, you will feel renewed and look forward to practicing mindfulness.

Namaste, friends! Pin this post for later:

Family Traditions

What are some important family traditions you share with your kids? One of my favorite traditions is making pasta with my children! It's such a simple and satisfying task, and one that is appropriate for their skill level in the kitchen. We even used my great-grandmother's wooden cutting board.

Today, the dough was just perfect!

This was my dinner. Yum!

more challenging transferring activities

I posted about transferring almost two years ago. Recently I decided to set up another transferring task while I was making dinner. While I used to set up this task often, we hadn't done it in awhile, so I tried to think of some more challenging items to transfer. Glass "stones" and marbles? Sure, why not?

F stuck with regular stones from the dollar store.

The wooden apples get used SO OFTEN here! Incredibly versatile!

Marble transfer.

Pennies! Now that's a challenge!

This gave me 20+ minutes of silence. I got to prep dinner, they got fine motor skill practice. We all won!

cleaning crew

If your home needs cleaning love, and you just don't feel like you have the time to get it done while taking care of everything else that needs attention, try enlisting the help of your child(ren). A toddler can take on a good amount of cleaning, and not only are they learning something useful, they are actually helping! My favorite toddler cleaning tool is a Swiffer sweeper with 1-2 of the handle links removed. It is excellent for quick cleanup on our wood and tile floors. Other things easily found at your local dollar store:

• squeegee
• spray bottle
• duster
• dust pan & brush
• small broom (the one below is from Target)
• dust cloths 

our kid-sized cleaning supplies

Need your windows washed? Fill the spray bottle with water (or nontoxic cleaner for older children) and have them spray the window and squeegee it. You will have all your windows washed in no time! We have glass shower doors as well so I give H & F spray bottles and squeegees every so often during bath time. Need your floors cleaned?  Dampen a dust cloth with water or mild cleaner and put in on the Swiffer head (or leave it dry for dusting or picking up pet fur). Older children can of operate an upright or canister vacuum cleaner, smaller children a hand held vacuum. In my experience, it works better to let them take the lead and decide they want to clean, rather than ask when you need it done. If I leave the cleaning supplies out, eventually they will ask to use them.

napkin rolling and folding

Napkin folding and rolling are practical life activities that can become part of your child's a daily meal routine. You don't need fancy napkins or napkin rings. You can make your own napkin rings by cutting toilet paper or paper towel tubes and decorating them with ribbon or fabric. If you use paper napkins, you can still roll them, but you can pick up cloth napkins fairly inexpensively and wash them along with your laundry. It is nice to have larger diameter rings for younger children, like the red ones below:

It doesn't have to be perfect!

This is a holiday set. No, I don't iron my cloth napkins. =)

rocking the Pfaltzgraff

If you don't want to roll, or don't have rings, the folding task is also useful to learn. H generally folds all of our washcloths and small towels now when I'm doing laundry, which is helpful for me and fun for him.  Traditional Montessori folding is shown here and described in impressive detail here. Folding in quarters works for us, so that is what we do! You can try experimenting with fancy napkin folding, too!

children's garden

It doesn't take much to start a garden, and you can do something as small as an indoor herb garden in a single pot, or an extensive vegetable garden outside. My kids love to expand seedling pellets, and since they are a  busy activity, I have used them the past couple of years to start seeds indoors. We started seeds last week and will continue to grow more until they can be transplanted this spring.

stack of biodegradable pellets

All you have to do is add warm water and a seed or two, keep them watered, and preferably by a south facing window (if you're in the northern hemisphere).

tomato seedlings

It is my goal this year to can even more tomatoes than last year so I'm starting early. If you don't want to grow anything long term, you can sprout some beans without any pellets or soil. Wrap some dried beans in a wet towel or paper towel and check them daily to see if they've sprouted. This is a great way to show your child how a seed starts to grow, because a bean is one of the largest seeds you can use.

bean sprouts

It is very useful to have two little gardeners who can help water, weed, and harvest our fruits and vegetables, and it is a wonderful teaching tool as well. Most kids don't mind getting dirty digging, and the only issue I've had was with an overenthusiastic toddler harvesting unripe veggies. =) We also compost, so they are able to see the cycle go full circle. If you are new to gardening or don't have outdoor space, you could look at doing a kit like this or making your own. I know it's not for everyone, but nothing tastes quite as good as freshly harvested fruits and vegetables! =)

Fun if you are doing a children's garden:

• sunflowers - fast growing and cheery!
• cherry tomatoes (can be grown in a pot)
• marigolds
• snow peas (also can be grown in a pot)
• giant (or regular) pumpkins
• carrots or parsnips - great fun to dig up in the fall!
• start a praying mantis pagoda and release them into the garden

strawberries and purple beans from last summer's garden, mmm!

Do you have a special area of the garden dedicated to your child(ren)? I'd love to hear about it!