Wonder Wednesday 148: SEL Seed Packets
Gardens as a Healing Space
The world can be a physically and emotionally challenging place for adults, let-alone children. From disasters like wildfires and hurricanes to the overall climate crisis, plus day-to-day cultural stressors, gardening and nature connection are ever more important and beneficial elements in our daily lives.
Slowing down, and getting in touch with and being able to identify and name our feelings is part of what is called Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL), and is an important skill for children to understand at increasingly younger ages. (As well as adults & humans of all ages of course!)
The American Horticultural Society reports that spending time in nature and gardens offers positive impacts on the physical and mental health of children and adults. Just two of the many benefits include a decrease in stress and anxiety with an increase feeling of calm and relaxation.
Gardening, playing, and exploring outdoors aids human nervous systems in finding equilibrium and this is what leads to increased states of calmness. Garden and nature connection also provide endless opportunities for kids to engage with their peers, learn peaceful ways to resolve conflicts, and learn compassion and empathy. These are all valuable SEL skills.
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), defines SEL as "the processes through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions."
CASEL' s "five core competencies for social emotional learning are:
1. Self-awareness. To recognize your emotions and how they impact your behavior; acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses to better gain confidence in your abilities.
2. Self-management. To take control and ownership of your thoughts, emotions, and actions in various situations, as well as setting and working toward goals.
3. Social awareness. The ability to put yourself in the shoes of another person who may be from a different background or culture from the one you grew up with. To act with empathy and in an ethical manner within your home, school, and community.
4. Relationship skills. The ability to build and maintain healthy relationships with people from a diverse range of backgrounds. This competency focuses on listening to and being able to communicate with others, peacefully resolving conflict, and knowing when to ask for or offer help.
5. Making responsible decisions. Choosing how to act or respond to a situation based on learned behaviors such as ethics, safety, weighing consequences and the well-being of others, as well as yourself."
(From the CASEL publication Reunite, Renew, and Thrive: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Roadmap for Reopening School, July 2020)
A world where we all work to develop these skills to a high level sounds pretty awesome to me - how about you?
And if being outside is part of the process, definitely count me in! I myself experience nature's gift of the decreasing stress and increasing in wellbeing regularly, and seek out even the smallest bit of nature when stressors big and small creep in on me.
Over the past 20+ years I've also witnessed (first hand countless times) the increase in calmness and community mindedness that nature & gardening time brings, as well these SEL skills developing in my own students - even before I knew the term SEL!
But it's winter!
You may be wondering - why are we talking about gardening and seeds in January? In many places the garden has been put to bed, or in the southern hemisphere and subtropical climates it's already planted and in full swing.
Well, because winter is always a wonderful time to organize our existing seed stashes and scour the seed catalogues for the plants we want to grow in spring! So what better vehicle to use than a seed packet to explore our SEL while immersed in spring garden seeding inspiration?
What if I don't have a garden at home or school?
No worries at all! These seed packets hold the seeds of our bodies, hearts, and minds and don't need to actually be planted in the soil!
Wouldn't it be great if we could hand someone our seed packet explaining all the information they need to help us thrive individually and in community? Or perhaps in times of stress checking in with our own growing requirements could help us to remember how to set ourselves up for success. That is the idea with this project!
So let's get digging into our emotional gardens in any season and nurture the soil and seeds we find!
Wonder Wednesday 148:
SEL Seed Packets!
Materials
*Paper -
construction paper, drawing paper, copy paper, newsprint - pretty much any blank, light weight, foldable paper that is light in color enough to draw and write on will do
*Writing & Drawing supplies -
pencils, pens, color pencils, markers whatever you like and writes on your chosen paper works!
*The Seed Packet PDF template -
print one out for each participant, or print one on card stock and make a template to trace.
Click here to download and print
*Scissors
*Glue Stick
*Optional:
actual seed packets for each to look at for reference or inspiration
chalk board or projection to offer ideas of "seed requirement" examples listed below in the Preparation section
Preparation
Each participant needs a seed packet template to decorate and provide information about their own growing preferences and personal needs.
Familiarize yourself with what information is on a seed packet, including:
Light (full sun, partial sun, low light, shade), soil type, water requirements, spacing & placing, harvest times & seasons, companion plants & trellising, flowering, fruiting
Consider how each of these could represent an aspect of socio-emotional learning and how you would talk about these ideas to your students.
For example:
Light - How much time to we need to be outside each day? Do we prefer to be out at sunrise, dappled morning light, in the midday sun, in the afternoon shade, or at sunset?
Soil Type - Do you like to be immersed in weighted coziness or prefer airy and breezy environments? Are you more spontaneous like a wildflower meadow, prefer a set schedule and structure like an exhibition garden, or a bit of both like a backyard garden bed?
Water Requirements - Do you thrive near water and in humid environments or do you prefer the soil to dry out between waterings and more arid landscapes?
Spacing & Placing - Do you like to be in a crowd, a small group, or do you like to fly solo and need a bit of space between yourself and your neighbor? Does it depend?
Harvest Times and Seasons - About how much time do you like to have to warm up to a person, place, or situation? In what seasons do you most thrive?
Companion Plants & Trellising - Who is always there to support you no matter what? Who are the people you turn to when you need help with different things in life? Who are the people in your life when you are around them you feel like your best self? What companion plants could represent your community?
Leaves & Flowering - What shape and style are your leaves? Do you have thorns, hairs, or serrated margins for protection? Are your leaves thin or broad, smooth, waxy or fuzzy? Are you an annual or a perennial? Do you flower? If so, what type of flower (single, clustered, fragrant, showy, modest), what color/s, and in what season?
Fruiting - Do you fruit? Is this type of fruit your favorite food? Is it sweet or savory? What color, shape, size, and texture is the fruit? What shape & color seeds does your fruit contain?
What else might you add to help yourself and others understand your best growing conditions?
*Depending on the age of the students, you may want to divide this project into 2 or more parts.
Procedure
Ideally holding a basket of seed packets, begin a conversation with the students about the role a seed packet's information plays in helping us garden. Depending on the age of the participants, include age and skill level appropriate questions about what generally plants need to survive.
If you have a garden, or the children have experience with plants in nature, inquire about specific plants that have different requirements (light and water demonstrate clear examples). Explore why that could be. Ponder if we as humans share some of those requirements and if different humans may also have different or specific personal requirements that help individuals and groups grow and thrive individually and in community.
If using actual seed packets, and reading level appropriate, distribute the packets around and let participants make their own observations and conclusions for a few minutes.
Then, explain that each participant gets to make their own seed packet to help inform others on how to help them thrive!
Each participant gets a seed packet template to cut out (or trace first and then cut out).
Once cut out, fold on the dotted lines.
Depending on your preference, and if you are doing this project in more than one session, unfold and decorate, or first place glue on the small side and bottom flaps accordingly.
Then, press back panel over to create the envelope pouch.
Remember not to glue the top flap closed or you won't be able to open your packet.
Design & decorate!
If not glued, unfold and flatten to decorate and glue after decorating.
On the cover - draw a portrait of yourself as a plant or part plant. Feature elements and designs inspired by and matching a participants personal SEL needs exploration descriptions.
On the back - write the important or favorite growing requirements for thriving, as explored in the SEL descriptions.
Extensions:
Let the SEL exploration portion act as a pre-writing activity prior to decorating the packets, since each "growing requirement" makes a great writing prompt on its own.
It is unlikely that a participant could fit all of these requirements, or details, onto the back of a single seed packet, so in an effort to include all of them, students can write out each requirement onto a slip of paper in their best handwriting, fold the slips, and place each inside the packet. Even requirements that are featured on the exterior of the packet can be included inside in more detail if desired.
Create actual seeds out of polymer clay and fill the seed packet with your personal seeds! Are the seeds of you sparkly, rainbow, classic, smooth, textured, big, small, a combo...?
Create a classroom plant and growing requirements seed packet - how could the entire classroom community be represented together in plat style and growing needs that support everyone?
Do garden plant research on the growing needs of various garden plants and plant families.
Plant a little garden - in the ground or in a pot on a patio!
Seeds to Sprout
Sprouting Rings!
Looking for an up-cycled way to sprout your spring garden seeds? Look no further than these Wonder Wednesday 104 sprouting rings!
Flower Drawing!
Cosmos are a popular garden flower, plus they are really fun to draw! Spruce up your flower drawing skills with this Wonder Wednesday 82: Cosmos Creativity step-by-step drawing how-to project!
Garden in a Jar!
Who says you need a lot of space to garden? In this Wonder Wednesday 51: Glass Jar Gardens project, up-cycle glass jars and grow your own herb garden inside!