This past summer, Early Childhood Services teamed up with the Greeley Morning Garden Club to build a sensory garden for children receiving mental health services at North Range Behavioral Health’s Littler Prevention Campus. This garden is all about bringing the joy of nature to children, offering them sensory experiences and access to fresh fruits and veggies.
The garden is used in both individual and group therapy sessions, providing a calming space where families can connect and spend time together in a stress-free environment. Nature is proven to boost overall wellness for both children and their caregivers, particularly for those who might not otherwise have such access.
Spending time outdoors can invigorate us in many ways. Sunlight and fresh air enhance oxygen flow to our brain, muscles, and cells, positively impacting mental and physical health. Fresh air can help lower blood pressure and heart rate, increase energy, and sharpen mental focus. Plus, Vitamin D from the sun supports bone health and helps reduce risks related to diabetes and heart disease. By watering and caring for plants, children learn responsibility and gain a sense of accomplishment as they watch the garden flourish. This process can build self-esteem and confidence. Observing the garden's growth through the seasons also teaches valuable lessons about resilience and hard work.
Early Childhood Services and the Greeley Morning Garden Club carefully selected plants for their sensory impact. The garden features:
- Taste: Fruits like strawberries, tomatoes, and blueberries that children enjoy.
- Smell: Lavender, which offers a calming aroma.
- Sound: Prairie and bunny grasses that create gentle sounds when moved by the wind.
- Sight: A variety of colorful plants with different sizes and textures.
- Feel: Both scratchy grasses and soft flowers to explore different textures.
Raised garden beds ensure that everyone, regardless of ability, can enjoy and interact with the space.
In addition, bi-weekly mental health lessons can be held in the garden, which aim to promote wellness by focusing on sensory awareness, nature connection, and spending quality time with caregivers.
To bring nature into your child’s wellness routine, integrate the garden tools below:
Mindfulness: Focus on what you see, hear, smell, touch, and possibly taste in our environment. This is a chance to ground ourselves in our senses when things start to get overwhelming. You can also do Rainbow Grounding, where you search for one object that is every color of the rainbow.
Breathing and Grounding Exercises: Imagine smelling a flower. Take a deep breath in and hold it. Let out your breath and repeat it as many times as you need. Just as plants need air to grow, we need to take deep breaths to calm down.
Physical needs check-in: Sometimes when we have big feelings, we forget to take care of ourselves. By noticing those physical sensations, we can provide our body with what it needs — like stretching when we feel tense, getting enough sunlight, or drinking water like a plant does.
Positive affirmations: It’s important that when we talk about ourselves, we focus on the positive things. Research shows that plants grow best when they receive encouraging words. We should do the same for ourselves.
Growth mindset: A growth mindset helps us overcome challenges. When we have a big feeling, it can become overwhelming. By naming the feeling and reframing it into an opportunity to learn something new, it helps our brain organize what is happening and figure out a positive next step. Plants focus on trying their best to flourish in their environment and so should we.
Gratitude: Use our senses to find things to be thankful for. Even the smallest things can bring the biggest joys, like an afternoon rain shower that refreshes and reinvigorates.
Transitions: Sometimes the garden requires us to say goodbye. Flowers start to fall, plants start to shrink. This means they have done their part, and they are ready for the next step of the journey. We too have to say goodbye and it can be hard. Whether that is saying goodbye to our favorite teacher at the end of the school year, or telling a loved one goodbye when they die. We can find things to remember them by, and these are the seeds the flowers give us.
Thank you to Early Childhood Services’ team member, Jaclyn Hickey MA, LPC, and the Greeley Morning Garden Club for their contribution to this project. To support more programs like this, donate to Early Childhood Services.
