When the phrase “kindergarten” sounds, each person immediately has their own memories related to teachers, kindergarten friends, holidays. And indeed, as soon as a child begins to attend DOW, his life changes dramatically. And how much each child will be successful and inquisitive, largely depends on the educators, on their interest in the development of children. Now, as part of the children's development program, educators are invited to create creative projects called "a window garden in a preschool educational institution."
Why do I need a "garden on the window"?
The aim of this project is to educate the ecological culture of children, the development of cognitive interests, as well as the formation of aesthetic feelings of preschoolers. Of course, to achieve this goal, you need to move from simple to more complex, based on the age-related capabilities of children.
The most optimal
age groups for the implementation of this project are:
- middle group (4-5 years);
- senior group (5-6 years);
- preparatory group (6-7 years).
The main requirements of the project
To create the project “Garden on the window in the garden”, the main requirement of which is the safety of children, it is necessary to remember the following:
- the size of the created mini-beds should not exceed the size of the windowsill;
- the garden on the window should be located in a safe area for children;
- the use of fertilizers in kindergarten is prohibited.
The following requirements can be considered rather as recommendations for creating a garden on the window:
- Adequate lighting. It is best to place the garden on the window on the sunny side. If there is no such window, then you need to create additional lighting.
- Temperature condition. For comfortable plant growth, a temperature of at least + 17 degrees is required.
- The soil. Based on the fact that fertilizers cannot be used in kindergarten, it is best to buy ready-made soil in specialized gardening stores.
Compliance with all these requirements will help in creating a safe and fruitful window garden.
How to create a garden for children 4-5 years old?
The age potential of children is not very great, and here, of course, the main activity lies with the teacher. The middle group can arrange the kitchen garden on the window the most primitive - these are wooden boxes the size of the windowsill, painted in bright colors to attract the attention of children. It is best to use no more than two beds at a given age, because children are just starting to learn how to compare several objects. Seeds need to be selected for planting large (onions, peas, beans), fine motor skills are poorly developed at this age, and children simply will not be able to sow seeds of cucumbers or dill, which means they will not receive positive emotions.
The garden on the window in the kindergarten, the design of which is a creative and aesthetic process, involves involving children in this work. For example, they can color the sun, which will warm their beds.
Garden on the window for children 5-6 years old
This age category differs from the previous one in that the children already have accumulated experience in creating a garden and the basics of caring for it are formed. The older group can create a garden on the window with a more diverse type of crops, here there may be onions, beans, peas and new vegetable crops that are familiar to children, such as indoor cucumbers. Growing will require more attention from the children, in addition to the familiar watering, it will be necessary to loosen the soil around the shoots correctly, make and correctly place the net for weaving the cucumber on the window.
Part of the responsibilities for caring for the garden on the window is shifted from the teacher to the children - for example, to monitor the temperature and lighting. The kitchen garden on the window, the design of which partially falls on the shoulders of the kindergarten pupils, will bring the children a lot of new impressions and discoveries incredible for their age.
Garden on the window for children 6-7 years old
The preparatory group is already creating a kitchen garden on the window according to all the rules of conducting gardening activities. A lot of things can be entrusted to children aged 6-7 years, the process control is assigned to the educator here. Children can sow seeds on their own, water the garden according to the duty schedule, keep a calendar of observations. Here, the educator needs to divide the team into groups and assign a specific section of the garden to each group. This is necessary so that children not only learn how to care for plants, but also gain experience in communicating with each other in order to transmit information from their experience. Each child should be included in the project “Garden at the window in kindergarten”. Design is also entrusted to children.
With the solution of this problem, children's imagination and imagination help to cope. Here you can already make a cardboard fence, put a scarecrow in the center of the garden, make bees out of colored paper and attach them to the net for weaving cucumbers ... In general, the brighter and more varied the garden, the more information your pupils can learn.
“Kitchen garden on the window” - its role in the educational process
It's no secret that the creation of any project in kindergarten should contribute to the educational process. The garden on the window is no exception. With the correct use of this project, children not only learn to care for it, but also expand their vocabulary with the help of:
- acquaintance with new words (watering can, plant, loosen, seeds);
- the use of poems, sayings, riddles about cultivated crops.
This has a positive effect on speech development.
In math classes, you can also use the garden. For example, to offer children in the preparatory group the following task: “We planted 10 bulbs, 8 of them sprouted and gave a green feather. How many bulbs have not grown? ” A child who could not do a deduction in his mind can go to the bed with a bow and make a calculation.
In addition, Cipollino or Senior Tomato may come to any of your classes and ask the children to help solve a particular problem. After all, it is the game form of training that is the main one in the DOW.
Observation diary “A garden on a window in a kindergarten” (design) fosters a sense of responsibility for fulfilling assigned tasks in children. And also broadens their horizons, they get acquainted with such concepts as clear weather, cloudy, rainy, temperature conditions.
Garden on the window as the founder of the research activities of the child
Every child who takes part in a creative project, without realizing it, becomes a little researcher. At first, he is curious about the process of germination of seeds and the appearance of shoots. Then, with the help of the teacher, the task becomes more complicated, the child begins to look for answers to the following questions:
- Why does one plant have a bright green color, and another pale, sometimes even yellow?
- Why watering plants with different periodicity, we noticed that one of them withered?
Undoubtedly, in order to correctly answer these questions, you need to teach children to observe. And in order not to forget their observations, they need to be recorded somewhere. Here, they will be assisted by the observation diary “A garden on a window in a kindergarten”, the design of which will first be carried out by the educator, and then the pupils themselves.
Children who engage in research activities from an early age become good analysts. They have well-developed thinking with the establishment of causal relationships.
The role of parents in the project “Garden on the window”
Of course, all preschool children share their impressions with their parents, regardless of whether they are good or bad. Here, the main thing for parents is to show interest, help the teacher-educator and their child in creating the creative project "Garden at the window in the kindergarten", the design of which requires:
- understanding of ongoing processes;
- fresh artistic views;
- opportunities to transfer their experience.
If children see the participation of their parents in their kindergarten problems, they will never become self-enclosed people.
Total
It would seem that the simple project “Kitchen garden on the window”, and how many tasks of the educational process at once allows to solve. Experiment, set new tasks, and your seeds will surely give you wonderful seedlings.