Curriculum & Online Lessons
Educator Workshops & Consulting
Starting a School Garden
Gardening Resources
School Gardening Resources in Spanish
Garden-Enhanced Nutrition Education Resources (GENE) – an extensive list of resources used in our Plant It, Grow It, Eat It and Healthy School Environment Workshops.
Garden Classroom Management Tips
The Value of Garden-Based Learning
Life Lab's Photo Gallery of School Garden Elements
Life Lab's YouTube Video Channel – over 40 videos demonstrating garden instruction, activity and Life Lab history.
Funding Your Garden Program
Regional Support Models

Curriculum & Online Lessons

Created by Life Lab

• Life Lab Science K-5 Garden-Based Science Curriculum, The Growing Classroom Activity Guide, Kids' Garden Activity Cards, and more at the Life Lab Store.
• View lessons, videos, and activities posted on the Life Lab blog.
• 1st -4th Grade Science Exploration Units These downloadable units are the lessons we share as part of our Science Exploration Field Trip Program
• Garden Scavenger Hunts A collection of different types of scavenger hunts that you can modify for your needs.
• "Back Pocket" Activity Videos easy to set up garden activities every garden teacher should have in their back pocket.
• View School Garden Lessons taught by veteran garden instructors at school gardens in Santa Cruz.

Other great sites to find lessons

• California School Garden Network Online Lesson Database Free resources for PreK-6th Grades and resources for Middle and High School Level.- a list, maintained by Life Lab, of hundreds of lessons from other garden-based education organizations (Have a site to add? send it on) 
• Kidsgardening.org – a great site and newsletter of lessons, activities, and more, check out their GBL book matrix to find just the right publication
• The Edible Schoolyard Research and Tool Search Function has user submitted lessons

Garden-Based Learning Literature Lists

• American Horticulture Society/Jr. Master Gardeners Growing Good Kids Book List
• Super Kids Nutrition Book Review Corner – list of nutrition related literature
• USDA's Agriculture in the Classroom – a searchable database, search for "book" media for literature resources
• California Ag In the Classroom Bookshelf
• Harvest of the Month Literature Links
• Life Lab's list of literature books that are displayed at workshops

Connecting to Content Standards

• CA Science Content Standards Related to Gardening
• A Child's Garden of Standards Connecting grades 2-6 to Garden-Based Learning
• Gardens for Learning Standards Supplement K-6 Garden-Based Learning content standards connections.

School Garden Workshops and Consulting

Life Lab Educator Workshops page lists all the workshops we provide
Life Lab offers consulting for your school garden team at your site or at our Garden Classroom
The California School Garden Network's Event Calendar - view workshops across California
Life Lab's School Garden Promoters Toolbox lists school garden regional support networks across the nation

Starting a School Garden

Life Lab's Getting Started

• Purchase or download Life Lab's Getting Started: A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms. Also available in Spanish.

Creating and Sustaining Your School Garden Resources

• Created by Life Lab and partners, the CSYSG training materials consist of handouts, presentations, and videos to help others start and sustain school gardens. View the Planning Your School Garden Program page for resource on starting our your program.

Gardening Resources

Developed by Life Lab and partners, The Creating and Sustaining Your School Garden workshop pages are the place to find school garden skills support resources.

• Planning Your School Garden Program

• Designing Your School Garden

• Choosing Plants and Planting Times

• Soil and Bed Prep

• Seeding and Transplanting

• Keep It Growing Water, Weeds and Pest Control

Garden Classroom Management Tips

Sustaining Your School Garden- Article from The Garden Times, Spring 2002

Summer Vacation for Your Garden- Article from the Garden Times, Spring 2003

Managing an Effective Outdoor Classroom- Article from the Garden Times, Spring 2003 plus more resources on Effective Outdoor Mangement

Worm Bin Bingo Game – Instructions to play and download link for worm bin bingo cards 

Garden Pathways shows hundreds of ways to connect school gardens to academic content.

Salad Harvest Cards  Use these cards to break the task of harvesting and/or preparing a salad with a group of kids.  

The Value of Garden-Based Learning

 The Garden, A Master Teacher  An excellent essay on the many benefits of garden-based learning.

CSGN Research Page has research briefs on the value of school gardens, an extensive list of research articles, and much more.
 

Funding Your Garden Program

Head over to the California School Garden Network to view their grants and funding page for grant lists and much more.