Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Mitchell on January 14, 2011 at 9:10

Hi Nicki

Do the children get supervision in the garden? The reason I ask is because, when I was a child, I found the actual gardening to be very therapeutic... digging in the soil and planting small plants. Also (this may be a bit controversial), what about an earthworm farm?

Jen

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Nicki Jackson on January 14, 2011 at 9:22

Hi Jen

 

Thanks for coming back to me :) There will be a separate plot for actual gardening and getting up close and personal with the plants and soil.  This area is so they can play with little supervison, I need to keep lines of sight open though.  I believe this is about them having opportunities to develop their senses and escapismn too.  I like the idea of a the worm farm as they will learn loads from it I could suggest that for the other area.

Thanks :)

Nicki

Jennifer Mitchell said:

Hi Nicki

Do the children get supervision in the garden? The reason I ask is because, when I was a child, I found the actual gardening to be very therapeutic... digging in the soil and planting small plants. Also (this may be a bit controversial), what about an earthworm farm?

Jen

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John on January 14, 2011 at 9:23

Children are not allowed to get dirty today at school today or allowed to touch soil, or use implements that might scratch them, or stand to close to plants in case they get whiplashed by the branches or fall head  
first into them, or slip on a fallen leaf. etc etc etc  

     - No wonder asthma is on the increase. 

 

 
Jennifer Mitchell said:

Hi Nicki

Do the children get supervision in the garden? The reason I ask is because, when I was a child, I found the actual gardening to be very therapeutic... digging in the soil and planting small plants. Also (this may be a bit controversial), what about an earthworm farm?

Jen

• ▶ Reply

Pro DesignerPermalink Reply by Jenny Bloom on January 14, 2011 at 9:37

Hi Nicki

 

Have a look at these articles and case studies on Bella D'Arcy's Gardens and People website http://www.gardensandpeople.co.uk/schools.html

 

There is also a great community garden near me - King Henry's Walk Garden in Hackney which runs events and workshops for children among others http://www.khwgarden.org.uk/education.html

 

Best wishes

 

Jenny

www.jennybloom.co.uk

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Donny Bryan on January 14, 2011 at 10:11

I'd also be interested if anyone has experience of designing a low cost garden for a 4 year old who is both blind and autistic. I'm seeing a new customer on Saturday. Parents are also disabled so has to be low maintenance.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Nicki Jackson on January 14, 2011 at 10:14

Hi Jen

Thanks for the links - really appreciated :)

Nicki

Jenny Bloom said:

Hi Nicki

 

Have a look at these articles and case studies on Bella D'Arcy's Gardens and People website http://www.gardensandpeople.co.uk/schools.html

 

There is also a great community garden near me - King Henry's Walk Garden in Hackney which runs events and workshops for children among others http://www.khwgarden.org.uk/education.html

 

Best wishes

 

Jenny

www.jennybloom.co.uk

• ▶ Reply

PRO MemberPermalink Reply by Claire Brown on January 14, 2011 at 10:29

i've designed a garden at my son's school that has had practically no maintenance over the last 2 years.

 

The things that have been the most successful are the herbs. Unfortunately the rosemary has been eaten by rosemary beetle, but the fennel, sages and thymes have been great.
Donny Bryan said:

I'd also be interested if anyone has experience of designing a low cost garden for a 4 year old who is both blind and autistic. I'm seeing a new customer on Saturday. Parents are also disabled so has to be low maintenance.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Chris Collins on January 15, 2011 at 17:56

My wife has worked with autistic children and sensory integration. She suggested contacting   http://www.cot.org.uk/homepage/

They specialize in developmental issues and would be able to share relevant information. 

 

Link would also be usefull for Donny as well as contacting   http://www.autism.org.uk/

 

Good luck with projects :)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Nicki Jackson on January 15, 2011 at 18:18

Hi Chris

Thanks so much for this info -really helpful and of course, appreciated :)  Thanks to your wife too!

Nicki

Chris Collins said:

My wife has worked with autistic children and sensory integration. She suggested contacting   http://www.cot.org.uk/homepage/

They specialize in developmental issues and would be able to share relevant information. 

 

Link would also be usefull for Donny as well as contacting   http://www.autism.org.uk/

 

Good luck with projects :)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Stacy Tuttle on January 15, 2011 at 18:37

Hi,

I have been involved in designing sensory gardens for children- a playgroup garden, nursery school garden and primary school garden. I originally trained at the Norland College and worked in childcare field for a number of years before retraining as a garden designer.

Obviously age of the garden users is key as safety has to be the first priority when children are involved.  But there is plenty of scope for stimulating all the senses.

E.g. for the nursery school garden we installed mirrors for the children to look at themselves and look at reflections of light and plants etc., also made a large outdoor "xylophone" using metal pipes of varying length set into a natural frame with sticks as percussion implements ( sound, texture of different materials)

At playgroup used grasses and willow for sound, bespoke paved area made with variety of textured objects set into concrete- pebbles , large marbles and other interesting little durable toys and odds and ends etc found in car boot sales , mini beast area in a damp shady corner with old logs and ferns plus bark .

The main thing is that creating a garden for children is great fun. I took classes with each year at the primary school and we discussed the garden at length. They wrote down their ideas- the younger ones drew pics and I tried to incorporate /interpret as many of their ideas as space and budget would allow.

Stacy

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by chris nangle on January 15, 2011 at 19:31

we have made large seats for a few sensory gardens, we make them from cedar of lebonon they give off a great scent ,and feel really nice the kids love them

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by jon wood on January 16, 2011 at 9:55

Hi All

First time I've posted on LJ.

I am no expert but I have designed two gardens in school environments that have features designed to be fun and help stimulate young people with special needs. I have also worked in a special school.

When I did research for the two gardens, I was very disappointed by the sensory garden books and case studies that I came across.  I might be generalising a bit here, but they all seemed to prescribe the same thing; coloured lights, noisy plants, different textures, lavender, chamomile, token water feature, blah blah blah.  None of them stressed the need for a bespoke design based on the specific needs of the user.

I noticed that the designers often say “I was inspired by the six senses” and then refer to a feature described as “designed with the visually impaired in mind”.  I thought that this showed a very superficial understanding. There are even off the shelf products for sensory gardens, but I don’t like the idea of a one size fits all solution. 

I met several staff that worked in centres that had sensory gardens. They were often disappointed with the design. It seemed that all they really needed was a well designed children’s garden without any gimmicks.

So I decided I didn't like the term "sensory garden" for two reasons. Firstly aren’t all gardens sensory?  Secondly I think that all the info about sensory gardens misses the point that the design should be tailored to the actual user, not a presumed idea of who the user is. 

 

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page