Bennington's Early Childhood Center Proves Children Dig Fruits and Vegetables Grown in a Garden

Dr. Seuss and parents everywhere will tell you that kids do not like their vegetables—not in a house, not near a mouse, not in a tree, not with tea! But Bennington College’s Early Childhood Center would like to beg their pardon, they proved kids will eat vegetables when they grow them in a garden.

Three years ago, the College’s Early Childhood Center (ECC)—a NAEYC accredited pre-school and kindergarten program serving 68 students aged two through six—noticed a universal truth, kids hate their vegetables. Worse yet, about two-thirds of their students weren’t even willing to try vegetables. And compelling the case for abstention were increasing reports of tainted produce contaminated with e-coli and other harmful bacteria. So teachers on high alert wondered would kids eat vegetables grown in dirt?

Garden Sprouts.

“We were looking for ways to incorporate more nutritional food items into our menu,” says Bennington alumna and Director of the ECC, Darlene Bombard ’04. “The garden project was a way to achieve this goal while simultaneously teaching a basic and increasingly useful skill—growing your own food.” The ECC staff proposed turning an old sandbox into a garden. After parents raised nearly $1,000 for the pilot program, a garden was born.

Curious students dug right in, questioning which garden bugs were good and which were bad, what makes soil organic, how plants grow from seeds, the diverse practice of seed germination, and how to turn their food waste into nutrient rich compost.

Classrooms quickly began to sprout tomatoes, potatoes, green peppers, carrots, broccoli, popcorn, cabbage, pumpkins, winter squash, and even beans. They discussed balanced diets, wondered which vegetables offer what vitamins, how many vegetables were healthy servings, and the multiple ways they could prepare and store vegetables.

Magic Beans.

According to a recent study released by Saint Louis University, the ECC was well on its way to successfully reaching its goals. Researchers interviewed about 1,600 parents of preschool-aged children and found that children who were served homegrown fruits and vegetables were more than twice as likely to eat five servings a day as those who rarely ate homegrown produce.

"It was a simple, clear finding," said Debra Haire-Joshu, PhD, director of Saint Louis University's Obesity Prevention Center and a study author, in a press release. "Whether food is homegrown makes a difference. Garden produce creates what we call a 'positive food environment.'"

Moving into the next stage of their positive food environment, children at Bennington’s ECC watched as their seedlings developed into full-grown plants producing a variety of vegetables. With full enthusiasm, they harvested the fruits of their labor.

Bombard laughs, “Some of the children would pick tomatoes straight from the garden, snacking on their way to class.” While others waited, more interested in learning how to pickle, jar, dry, and store their vegetables so that they’d be available for snacking and meals throughout the school year. And everybody joined in when teachers worked with their students on new recipes like potato bread, pumpkin muffins, and pickled pepper muchables.

Learning to weigh, measure, clean, and cook the vegetables for consumption was part of the experience. This practice supported Dr. Haire-Joshu’s findings which revealed that students at schools with gardens learn about math and science, eat more fruits and vegetables, and know more about eating healthy.

In addition, the fact that Bennington’s ECC program is targeting young children, specifically toddlers to kindergarteners, is only helping their cause according to findings in a report issued by Karen Collins, MS, RD, CDN, at the American Institute for Cancer Research. The study underscores that engaging children at a very early age is important as it closely indicates future eating patterns. The report cites “the number of foods kids like does not change much from the age of two or three to age eight” and that “new foods are often more likely accepted at age two to four than at four to eight.”

Perennials.

The program, entering its third year, is expanding. The garden measures 20’ by 40’, including a garden box that blooms a variety of herbs. That’s not all. Bombard estimates that researchers are spot on predicting the garden success. She reports that about two-thirds of the children are now willing to eat a wider variety of fruits and vegetables. “Before the garden program, I’d guess only about a third of our children were willing to try them.”

Beyond fostering nutrition, education opportunities, and environmental benefits, the program has dramatically expanded the ECC community. Participants surpass the toddlers and kindergarteners, but have involved Bennington College students, ECC parent volunteers and even local farm children.

“Parent volunteers have spent weekends at the ECC installing our groundhog fence and developing a new drainage system. Bennington College students have submitted plans for sculpting bird baths and sundials for the garden, and through the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont we have developed a pen-pal and host farm relationship with a twelve-year-old girl who is the daughter of a local farmer.” Bombard beams, “It’s a wonderful success!”