One of the reasons we love our yard so much is that we can have pets, have a garden but also entertain our kid. While many complain about too much time online or watching TV, we’re happy we get to open the door and tell our kid to play with dirt. My job is also working with kids, working with EnrichLA and local elementary schools to teach, but lately I feel like I’ve been learning so much.
The kids I teach are young this time around, and the lessons aren’t really landing well, partially because definitions of soil are boring and the age of the kids. I often use my 2 year old as I test the lessons. If it doesn’t land well with a toddler, it’s not going to land well with a 4-5 year old who has a mind of their own.
I found this resource for soil here: https://www.soils4teachers.org/know-soil-know-life
I like to explain things to kids the way I would explain them to adults, meaning that I don’t want to dumb down a lesson thinking that children can’t understand, because they can. The definitions didn’t land, but the applied part did. We were able to play with soil, get the kids handling the dirt – and we even found a friend. We were able to go from basic soil composition to discussing soil as a habitat and ecosystem for critters.
This was one of my most challenging lessons, I will do things slightly different next time – perhaps have different types of soil on hand and match plants to the soil. Til next time.
