Kitchen Garden Program for wellbeing

The Kitchen Garden Program is a tool for fostering wellbeing and resilience in schools. Whether by offering a calm space for children and young people, or hands-on, sensory learning that connects with different types of learners, the Kitchen Garden Program teaches kids the soft skills they need for best life outcomes.

We know that time in nature is good for the soul and the mind. To calm us, to refocus, for time out. Kitchen garden experiences bear this out – whether intentional lessons, or incidental experiences.

Whether a sensory walk, insect spotting, taking time for observation, journalling, deep breathing or just sitting in the garden, children and young people are recharging in their kitchen garden spaces.

At Elizabeth Downs Primary School, students set their intent for the year by coming up with a 'habit of the heart', a positive habit they will bring with them to the garden to help them grow and pave the way to success. They hang their habits from the school’s harmony tree, which is the mindful meeting place in the heart of their beautiful garden (see image above).

To encourage thinking about excess produce and others, students at Blair Athol North Primary School in Adelaide’s north deliver excess produce to the staff room – great for staff wellbeing (not to mention buy-in to the program!).

 Staffroom herbs, Blair Athol Primary School 

At Seaforth Primary School in NSW, a journey around the garden identifying plants, collecting seeds and even weeding is viewed through a lens of mindfulness, with collected items being used to make artworks, based on ‘wild creativity’ artist Andy Goldsworthy.

Nature art, Seaforth Primary School

At Tenison Woods College, in SA, they take time out to smell the nasturtium flowers, taking in “the wonder and beauty of the everyday in the garden”. 

Tenison Woods' mindfulness activity

For some schools, wellbeing is at the very core of their program. At Springvale Rise Primary School in Melbourne’s south-east, the kitchen garden program provides a space to monitor student wellbeing. “The garden is a bit of a refuge,” explains kitchen garden specialist, Mary Giannakopoulos, “Children who might not be having a great day can come and sit in the garden, have a chat, potter around… It helps them turn the switch and changes their view for the day.”

A quiet, leafy place to sit, or a chance to nurture a patch of earth might not seem like a huge thing. But for students coming back from remote learning or struggling to cope with issues at home or school, Principal Debbie Cottier explains that having a space to practise being present can make a huge difference: “When the kids are out gardening alongside teachers, or alongside each other, kids will talk to you about stuff. If you’re sitting there pulling up weeds, you’re very likely to hear a story. And we need to know how students are really travelling after remote learning.”

In fact, the garden has been built into “a deliberate set of teachings around self-help strategies” at Springvale Rise Primary. “It’s part of our social and emotional literacy program,” explains Debbie, “which explicitly teaches strategies to students to regulate, and to move from being from angry, in the red zone, down to being to calm, in the blue or the green zone… the garden is potentially the thing that helps them.”

 In the garden, Springvale Rise Primary School 

Physically moving is also a huge aspect of wellbeing. It’s about calming the mind, getting it all out through the body. Moving, smelling, tasting puts us in touch with our senses, and that’s totally what the Kitchen Garden Program is all about.

 –Kerrilee Kimber, mindfulness and wellbeing practitioner

At Orange High School, the Kitchen Garden Program is run explicitly as part of a wellbeing program. Every fortnight, a group of 16 students spend lessons in the garden and kitchen. Educators Tammy and Mel have implemented learnings from Kitchen Garden Program professional development sessions to re-engage students and bolster student welfare, saying: “The Program allows us to combine wellbeing with nutritious food preparation and sharing, to benefit the whole child.” 

Former participant Armanii is now taking part as a student leader: “I developed my confidence in the kitchen, promoting positive relationships and work ethic while leading younger students.” 

And as with everything Kitchen Garden Program, the more the program is integrated at multiple levels, the greater the whole school effect. Says mindfulness and wellbeing practitioner Kerrilee Kimber: “For the broader school wellbeing, when a school has a kitchen garden program, when there are connections through to other staff, we often see something like a regular lunch that staff partake in. They sit around the table and experience the same thing as the students: connecting with their peers, offering words of gratitude for the food. And importantly giving lots of praise to the children involved. This respect from adult to child changes the power dynamic within the school.”

Kitchen Garden members can visit the Shared Table for wellbeing resources such as: Window on the World, Ikebana and Sensory soil activity.

Sign up for the next Program Enrichment Workshop on Wellbeing in the Kitchen Garden Program with Kerrilee Kimber on Thursday 19 May.