THAYER] CHILDREN'S GARDENS OI 



beginning with the kindergarten, must result in more sanity 

 among adults. 



CHILDREN'S GARDENS AT DOWNING STREET SCHOOL, 

 WORCESTER, MASS. 



BY EDNA R. THAYER 



Teacher of Grades Two and Three 



Photographs by C. F. Hodge 



Very early in the spring of 1903 all the children in the schools 

 of the city of Worcester were offered seeds for planting by the 

 leading seedsman, and many teachers who were interested in 

 garden work gladly accepted the offer for their pupils. At the 

 Downing St. school the children were allowed to choose their 

 own vegetable seeds ; but in the case of flower seeds the easily 

 grown varieties like the nasturtium and calliopsis were given to 

 the lower grades, stocks and carnations to the older children. All 

 flower seeds were planted in pots at home in accordance with di- 

 rections given about drainage, soil, depth to plant, and care to be 

 given. This flower growing was successful and on the last day 

 of school the children brought their plants, with pots gayly 

 dressed in fancy paper, for an exhibit. Some very good radishes 

 and lettuce were grown in beds in the school-yard, but no attempt 

 was made at a report of vegetables grown at home. 



This spring, 1904, when the same offer of seeds was made, it 

 seemed wise to attempt gardening on a larger scale, as the first 

 trial had shown that the children were eager for the work, and we 

 were satisfied that gardening ought to be made a permanent part 

 of our course in nature-study. As I was especially interested, it 

 naturally fell to my lot to distribute the seeds and supervise the 

 work through the summer. I decided that the gardens must be 

 at the children's homes, because there was no available land near 

 the school, and more particularly because each child would feel 

 that it was his ozvii garden and that he had a personal responsi- 

 bility for every seed given if it was at his home. Notes were 

 sent to the parents asking their consent to the children's having 

 seeds, and permission was readily obtained for more than four 

 hundred children. Each child selected three kinds of seeds, either 



