From Our Garden: Little Explorers Plant Herbs

A little planting in our garden

This week, children in the Little Explorers room planted herbs in the garden. With support from educators, they scooped soil, placed the plants into the garden bed and watered them.

Alongside these practical steps, the experience included conversations about plants, caring for living things and what plants need to grow. It brought a familiar idea, looking after something, into the everyday setting of the garden.

Soil, plants and water

Educators supported the children through each part of planting: scooping the soil, placing the herbs into the bed and watering them. These simple actions formed the heart of the experience, with conversation connecting the planting process to the needs of living things.

In general, gardening can offer children a concrete way to explore ideas that might otherwise feel abstract. Soil, water and a plant give adults and children something real to refer to when talking about growth and care. There is no need for a complicated explanation for these everyday experiences to become starting points for shared conversation.

Making care part of the conversation

Caring for living things was part of this week’s discussion. In a garden, the idea of care has a practical connection: plants have needs, and tending to them involves actions such as watering.

More broadly, experiences like planting can make space for questions about the natural world. Conversations can return to simple ideas, including what plants need and how people can help look after them. The value is in making room for exploration, rather than expecting children to arrive at a particular answer.

A small moment to share with families

This week’s herb planting is a small piece of life in the Little Explorers room to share with our families: children, educators and a garden bed, with practical care at the centre of the experience.

If you would like to visit Little Woods and get to know our centre, we warmly invite you to Book a Tour.