A new school year is here, however expanding your knowledge of horticulture and gardening can be a year round endeavor for any person at any age.
Whether you’re looking for educational resources for children or adults, we have some great options below.
For Children:
Teach ME about Food and Farming
Teach ME about Food and Farming offers agricultural lesson plans for students from PreK-12. The site includes read aloud books and videos and exciting downloadable lessons covering topics like aquaculture, pollinators, planting, and more.
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens will be offering an exciting program for children called the Fall Explorations Program. Participants can visit the Gardens’ Visitor Center to pick up their first week’s activities and supplies, every week thereafter, new activities will be made available each Monday for a total of five weeks. Start dates and program length are flexible.
Activities at the gardens will include nature surveys, and journaling, and participants will be given games, art projects, virtual content, and book recommendations for their time at home.
For older children, the gardens offer other programs such as their Budding Naturalists series which includes an Apiary Tour and Native Bees program and Maine Tree ID Hike programs.
Kids Gardening is an online resource that provides gardening-based activities perfect for homeschooling curriculum, or fun after school or weekend projects. They offer activities for preschool aged children all the way to high school seniors.
Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport offers multiple educational programs for the whole family including their after school Backyard Science Series, Farmyard Story Time, and nature walks like the Salamander Meander.
For Adults:
University of Maine Master Garden Program
The objective of the Master Gardener Program is to educate home gardeners, address community efforts related to horticulture and support the educational mission of the UMaine Extension.
Individuals can apply for the Master Gardener Volunteer training program which involves both classroom and hands-on experiences. After their basic training, Master Gardeners volunteer a minimum of 40 hours of their time to develop, adapt and extend research-based horticultural information and educational programs to the residents of their respective county.
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
Along with exciting children programs, the gardens also offer programing for adults. Two certificate programs, the Certificate in Native Plants and Ecological Horticulture and the Certificate in Botanical Arts are offered. Each certificate program includes the completion of required courses and a number of electives.
For professionals working in the field of horticulture and landscape design, the Garden offers Advanced Studies in Professional Horticulture courses and curriculum.
For additional options, visit our resource page here.
