Tree patterns

Something that children are very good at is recognizing patterns. Permaculture principles are also based around noticing patterns in a landscape. One of the most common patterns that children will be able to identify are tree or dendritic shapes.

Observe and have your child sketch what a tree branch looks like. Then lie on your back under the tree looking straight up the trunk and sketch the pattern. This is a dendritic pattern and can be found all around us. Look for a washed out bank of a hill, parking lot drainage, pictures of rivers, kidneys, lungs, blood vessels, and the nervous system. As you travel around town or go for a walk around the neighbourhood, point out a few of the tree patterns you see and prompt your child to do the same.

Here are some examples of dendritic (tree) patterns :

Let me know how your pattern observation goes and what your child notices that has tree patterns in their environment. Can you incorporate a dendritic pattern in your garden this year?

Plant seeds

One of the most important things that I have been learning about is food security. Namely, growing as much food as I can on the land that I have available. A great way to teach children about this idea is to help them plant seeds, or if they are older, help them plan out a section of garden that they will be responsible for.

This time of year in Calgary, good seeds to plant include: herbs, lettuce, squash, cucumbers, and any other plant that needs to be started about 6 weeks before the last frost. Young children would benefit most from quickly sprouting seeds like lettuce that can be grown to eating size in your window in about 3 weeks.

Be sure to plant in a container with drainage holes and use organic potting soil with compost or worm castings mixed in. Have your child mist the seeds each day.

Micro green mix planted in a spinach container with holes poked in the bottom and the top cover used as a drip tray.

In 3 weeks, we had a beautiful salad mix to eat for pennies.

Let me know what you plant with your children this week!

Meet the Blogger

Hi! My name is Sara and I am a certified science teacher who is obsessed with learning how to become more sustainable and passing on that knowledge to anyone I meet--especially children.

On our urban homestead, we are constantly striving to grow as much food as possible, preserve food by canning and dehydrating, and learning all that we can about permaculture to make our lot as productive as possible with minimal human input. With my passion for teaching children in combination with the foresight and guidance of Verge Permaculture, I am working on developing courses for children to learn the principles of permaculture in a hands-on way.

Check back weekly for ideas on how to help your child learn about permaculture and other sustainable practices that you can implement in and around your home.