Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden Learning Program

Bring your class for a day of fun learning at the Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden in Adelaide Botanic Garden!

Bookings for 2022 are now open!

Book for Terms 1 and 2, 2022

This exciting program has been designed to align with National Australian Curriculum Requirements.

It provides groups of students from pre-school to senior primary with hands-on experiences in an engaging outdoor learning environment.

Children will undertake activities that utilise play and exploration, exciting their natural sense of wonder and engaging all the senses.

The Kitchen Garden showcases the benefits of growing fresh, healthy produce instilling healthy habits from a young age.

Each lesson will be 60 minutes in duration and led by a qualified Kitchen Garden Educator with the support of program volunteers.

Lessons are available for classes of children from early years (minimum 4 yrs old) to Year 7 and are held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The general public are welcome to visit the Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden when sessions are not being held.

Please contact us at DEWBGSchools@sa.gov.au or 8222 9344 if you would like to discuss a future booking or if you would like any assistance in planning a future visit.

Details

Group size (per session): Minimum 12, maximum 30
Lesson duration: One hour
Day: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays

Fees: $7.50 per student (minimum total cost of $150 per lesson), $5.50 per student (minimum total of $110) for Department for Education Category 1-4 Disadvantaged Schools.
All prices are GST inclusive and schools will be invoiced following the visit.

Programs are not suitable for play groups.

Early Years Program (Kindergarten to Year 2)

The Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden Early Years Learning Program allows children to explore the wonders of a kitchen garden environment through a range of fun and engaging learning opportunities.

Guided by a qualified kitchen garden educator, the program is hands-on and sensory in nature and aligned to the Early Years Learning Framework. The Kitchen Garden also showcases the benefits of growing fresh, healthy produce to the whole community, instilling healthy habits from a young age.

Primary Program (Year 3 to Year 7)

The Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden Primary Program has a focus on STEM learning. Students and their teachers will use the kitchen garden environment as a research tool to develop their scientific biological conceptual knowledge of the structure and function, diversity and evolution and interdependence of plants.

The sessions are inquiry-based, tailored to address specific year level Australian Curriculum outcomes and provide a springboard for teachers to continue learning experiences back at their sites. Technology is employed to support the learning with engineering and mathematical tasks either embedded in the program or explicit in the recommended post visit activities for students.

For help planning your visit and ideas on pre and post-visit activities download this booklet.

Book for Terms 1 and 2, 2021

Book for Terms 3 and 4, 2021

COVID-19 information

The safety and wellbeing of our visitors, volunteers and staff remains our highest priority. We have implemented new COVID-19 compliant protocols to offer a safe and fun experience for all groups that attend our programs.

Measures include:

• Group sizes of approximately 20 to ensure physical distancing can be adhered to while not impacting on the quality of the learning experience
• Practicing of good hygiene before, during and after sessions
• Adults and students must continue to maintain physical distance (1.5m) and density (4sqm) requirements
• Attending teachers and supervisors will be required to play an active role in managing these measures
• Students, teachers and supervisors must not attend if they are unwell

Please note: in the event that one of our Botanic Garden’s staff members is feeling unwell on the day of your visit, the staff member will be required to stay home. This is to ensure that no students or adults from your school are placed at risk. If this occurs, we will work with you to provide an alternative to your booked session.

For more information and updates on the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, please see LATEST NEWS

Gardens of Wonder eBook

The Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden is an excellent environment to foster STEM thinking and learning.

This Gardens of Wonder eBook describes early years research that follows the journey of two preschools' children, educators and families as they research STEM learning in the garden together.

FREE to download, this research follows the principals of Reggio Emilia by valuing the child’s voice.

Children, educators and families work together to design the learning. It also highlights the importance that pedagogical documentation plays in encouraging children’s STEM thinking.

The eBook includes short videos and resources to support educators with STEM learning design and questioning.

It is a thought-provoking way for you and your colleagues to reflect on, and to stimulate your thinking to improve your STEM site practice.

Contact us

For alternative arrangements or other enquiries, please contact:

Kitchen Garden Education
(08) 8222 9343
DEWLittleSproutsVisitingProgram@sa.gov.au

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