Garden Drawing

The children walked around the classroom, searching for clipboards, paper, pencils, and sharpies. Each child found the materials they were searching for, walked to the classroom door, and waited. The teacher approached the group and said, "Is everyone ready to go?" The children said, "Yes." The classroom door opened, inviting the bright sun to fill the entrance. The teacher walked in front of the group as they moved out the door. The group walked together on a narrow asphalt pathway across the school campus. As the group approached a corner of the school building, the narrow walking path disappeared and became a grass field. The group walked on the grass until they reached a fence that protected something inside.

As the group approached the fence gate, anticipation grew. Inside the fence was a special place the children had visited before. The teacher opened the gate. Quickly, the children moved around the garden, some in pairs while others moved alone. As children moved around the garden, some sat down; others stopped to examine different plants and bugs before moving on. Once each child found what they were looking for, they settled in, pulled out a clipboard, a pencil, a sharpie, and some colorful pencils, and started creating images inspired by a visit to the garden.

Our journey to the garden started a few weeks before. In our program, we often take nature walks with the children. During our nature walks, we explore trees and climb a few. We look at plants and search for bugs. If we find some interesting specimens, we bring them to the classroom for further exploration. One day, I decided to take a camera on our walk so the children could collect images of plants and bugs that interested them. The children enjoyed capturing images and editing them on the computer. The children made prints of the nature images and used them in other creative work.

For our next nature walk, I invited the children to visit the school community garden that features small dirt plots that community members rent to plant fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Each community member decorates their garden plot with unique items. The children enjoyed walking in the garden, seeing all the creative garden spaces, and taking pictures. After the children edited the images from our garden visit, I invited them to draw their favorite photos. I wanted to keep an interest in this project alive and extend our investigation of the community garden.

Thinking about new opportunities for the children to capture images from the community garden, I remembered a fellow educator that would take art materials on walks with the children. As they walked, the children would stop and draw images of whatever interested them. I thought this could be an interesting extension of our photography work, so I suggested to the children we go to the community garden and capture images through drawing. 

The children collected materials and prepared to walk to the community garden. During our walk across the school campus, the children talked about what they hoped to see in the garden, what was in the garden the week before, and how it might have changed since the last visit. The children spoke about visiting their favorite spaces in the garden and formed groups to share the experience. A few children talked about a neighbor or family member who had a plot in the garden and how they wanted to check on the plants growing in that space. All the conversations about the garden created energy in the group. After a short walk, we arrived at the garden gate.

As the gate opened, the children ran away from the garden entrance toward their favorite spot. The sun was shining. The children were exploring and having fun. I walked around the garden quietly to avoid disturbing the children. Each child worked at a different pace. Some children worked quickly. Other children sat for a long time, taking in the scenery before creating the first line on paper. We stayed in the garden for over an hour before returning to the classroom. We continued to visit the garden each week throughout the Spring and Summer. The children created many unique images that shared the story of our time in the garden.

Winter arrived, and our visits to the garden slowed. Most of the plants and flowers hibernated for the season. We moved on to new projects. One of the projects was growing plants indoors to keep our connection to the community garden alive until the following Spring when we would visit again.