There have been several studies showing the benefits of gardening, but how does it affect our children and their ability to handle school? I read a fascinating article about the benefits of school gardens.

“Their inquiry started more than three years ago when researchers at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health analyzed the brains of more than 2,200 children. Those who attended schools with “more greenness” had greater increases in working memory—and greater reductions in inattentiveness—than children who went to schools with less green space.“

“Fast forward to this year, and the researchers did a follow-up study. This time they looked at 253 children who had “lifelong exposure to residential greenness.” It turns out that those who experienced long-term exposure to green spaces developed a greater volume of white and grey matter in the brain. And the location of the white and grey matter overlapped with those areas associated with higher scores on cognitive tests. In other words, the more brain matter kids had in this area, the better they achieved.” You can read the full article here.

If your kids do not go to a traditional school and are homeschooled like our family you have all the more opportunity to garden. Let them explore, play, and plant. It might just make them smarter!