Team Work, Grow!

The garden is a great place to witness team work in action. It is a central location where various plants rely on the same resources for nourishment and growth. At the launch of our garden activity workshop series at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Garden, we wanted to highlight team work and its foundational importance in creating sustainable communities and healthy ecosystems.

We were very fortunate to have a number of creative, spontaneous, and active kids join us in a number of activities that required working together cooperatively. We introduced the kids to the space we would be working with over the course of the summer. The strawberry patch was an amazing teaching point as the growth and spread of strawberries is accomplished through a process of root networks which allow younger, weaker plants to access nutrients from the stronger, more established ones.

The garden is neighbour to the city`s first urban orchard, and there was much weeding to be done. Some of our younger participants contributed to the team effort of beautifying our communal space as they enjoyed weeding the orchard.

Next, we all helped paint our Kids Grow! team banner, demonstrating the beauty of collaborating on a creative project, and the wonder that exceeds the sum total of its parts.

Our snack interlude consisted of the sharing of one, very large watermelon, the partaking of which strengthened our team bond.

Finally, we ended our morning playing some fun games like caterpillar and bug tag, the human root, and cucumber tag.

This was a great kick-off for the summer, and we hope you can join us for our next event!