Room to Grow

Room to Grow has a wonderful outdoor space that just keeps getting better!

At Room to Grow children have daily encounters with nature and all of its elements. Children are outside regardless of the weather – playing and learning with water, soil, plants, animals, and each other. Everyone (children, parents, teachers) feel a deep connection to the outdoor classroom.

When teachers decided that our garden area needed some revitalization earlier in the year, they consulted the children for ideas. The children requested that lots of flowers be planted along with veggies that they could pick and eat. They also requested a place where they could paint with ‘buckets’ of paint. As a result the plants in the revitalized garden are all edible. The garden also contains a workbench for creating ‘potions’ and a canvas clad wall area for painting.

Another area in the outdoor classroom that received a make-over in the past year was our construction area – a place where children use a variety of loose parts including bricks and boards to build. In response the children’s request, a mud area was developed including a large rain barrel with a hose and pump attached so that the children can create mud on demand, which they use for mortar and other construction purposes.