Let’s Grow Outside!

University of Delaware gardening professional development program fosters nature-based education and community across Delaware

When Diana Mercado applied to the University of Delaware’s Let’s Grow Outside! initiative, she saw a great opportunity for the children she serves at Pirulo’s Child Care and Learning Center in Newark, Delaware. The garden she planned to create would become a place for them to explore, learn about nature and build community.

Designed for educators in early childhood education programs, the Let’s Grow Outside! professional development initiative is offered by the College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD) Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC) in collaboration with UD’s Cooperative Extension. The program helps participants gain the knowledge and skills for developing and sustaining a garden, use a supplemental gardening curriculum and plan for age-appropriate garden activities with children.

“The children are watering the garden, seeing the harvest grow and touching everything,” said Mercado, who transformed a patch of grass near the bottom of a hill into a thriving outdoor classroom. “When I’m in the garden, the children on the playground will call to me, ‘Miss Diana! Come get me, Miss Diana. Is it my turn now? I wanna go to the garden!”

Growing together

With the support of UD’s professional learning sessions, gardening curriculum and supplies, Mercado built a garden with fruit, vegetables and flowers outside of Pirulo’s in about a year’s time. She creatively repurposed wire fencing to fashion a garden arch and trellis and placed child-sized aprons, gardening tools and watering cans next to the garden plot.

As the garden took shape, she and her colleagues engaged the children in hands-on, nature-based activities inside and outside of the classroom. Children from the ages of one to five learned that earthworms are “friends” that help enrich the soil for plants and that bees are “garden helpers.” The children also learned about life cycles, watching with wonder as each thriving plant sprouted from a tiny classroom seedling.

“Engaging in hands-on gardening experiences offers far more benefits than just math, science, social-emotional and language development,” said Jessica DeWese, professional development coordinator in DIEEC. “The unique opportunity to take responsibility for their very own small patch of soil allows children to witness cause and effect, experience joy and awe at the natural world, work cooperatively with other children and experiment and problem-solve. Watching their own plants thrive creates a connection to one another and to the Earth.”

Mercado also uses the garden to nurture a supportive community of educators and families. As a bilingual early education center, Pirulo’s supports Spanish-speaking families who may face language barriers when discussing their child’s development or accessing resources. Over the past year, gardening has become a communal activity, with many families donating seeds and tending to the garden with their children on the weekends.

“It’s exciting to see the children make connections between what they learn in Pirulo’s garden and what they have at home,” said Mercado, in reference to the tomatoes and herbs that some of the children’s families grow at home.

Blooming personally and professionally

Let’s Grow Outside! also gave Mercado an opportunity for rewarding personal growth and rejuvenation in the context of her busy role as an early childhood administrator. She describes the initiative with three words—“nuturing,” “mindful” and “self-care”—and encourages other early childhood programs to join.

“Supporting educator well-being is one major focus of DIEEC efforts including Let’s Grow Outside! and Shining the Light on You,” said Laura Lessard, associate professor in the College of Health Sciences’ Department of Health Behavior and Nutrition Sciences and senior advisor for well-being at DIEEC. “Research shows that supportive work environments, which include well-being supports, can help increase job satisfaction and retention in the workforce. Early childhood educators deserve opportunities to focus on themselves and their health and we know spending time outside contributes to those goals.”

“I loved all of the knowledge and experience that the children had exposure to, learning with everybody and working as a community,” Mercado said. “It’s an amazing experience, and you have help from the beginning.”

Funded by a Delaware Department of Education Farm to School federal grant, the Let’s Grow Outside! initiative will begin again on November 22 with a new group of early childhood programs from all three counties in Delaware.

About the Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood

Housed in CEHD, DIEEC works collaboratively to develop and deliver comprehensive, evidence-based supports for early childhood professionals, children and families across Delaware. Through innovative research and partnerships, the center advances equity for all Delaware families and promotes high-quality education for children, families and early childhood educators.

The Let’s Grow Outside! program complements other nature-based education initiatives in the college, like the pioneering curriculum of the Lab School on CEHD’s Children’s Campus.

Header image caption: Diana Mercado, early childhood administrator at Pirulo’s Child Care and Learning Center, smiles with children in front of the garden she grew with the support of UD’s Let’s GROW Outside! initiative.

Article by Jessica Henderson and Stephanie Thompson. Photos by Christian S. Ferrell.