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School Gardens

AtlantiCare recognizes the tremendous impact that school gardens can have on children and their community.  School gardens provide a wealth of learning experiences as the “outdoor classrooms” enhance and strengthen the learning process, while encouraging healthy eating, physical activity, and connectivity to our natural environment.

To date, AtlantiCare has provided mini-grants to over 27 schools throughout Atlantic, Southern Ocean and Cape May counties to support new school gardens and assist with sustaining existing school gardens.

Preschool children are harvesting and eating carrots grown at their center; elementary school students are preparing meals with spinach, basil and beets; and high school students are learning the numerous health benefits to be derived from eating the plant-based foods which they grew from seeds.

Through these efforts, AtlantiCare has been able to support and promote healthy lifestyle behavior changes to help build healthier school communities one child at a time.

Applications for 2012/2013 Growing Green School Garden mini-grants will be posted to this site in October 2012 and will be due by December 31, 2012.

Additional Resources

http://www.ourgrowingplace.us
Our Growing Place

http://edibleschoolyard.org
The Edible Schoolyard Project

http://www.sustainabletable.org/schools/teachers/
Sustainable Table

www.growit.umd.edu
Grow It, Eat It