Green Thumb Challenge

Green Education Foundation is calling on schools and youth groups nationwide to plant 10,000 gardens - the largest youth gardening initiative in history!

The Green Thumb Challenge aims to connect children with nature and the healthy benefits of gardening as part of a nationwide movement to get kids growing. GEF's "turn-key" garden plan provides participants with beginner-friendly resources to plant gardens of any size, as well as fun activities and standards-based lessons linking the classroom to the garden.

Whether sowing seeds during one class period, planting bulbs in one afternoon, or planning an outdoor garden that comes back year after year, you and your students can be part of this exciting event! All participants have an opportunity to be awarded a $5,000 grant in recognition of their garden project. Over $10,000 worth of prizes have already been awarded to Green Thumb Challenge participants, courtesy of program sponsors.

Check out the Green Education Foundation's website for more information!

Grow your garden with Growums!!

Growums can help you "add a little character to your garden" and engage children in fun new ways!

This innovative product gives children the opportunity to enjoy the experience and health benefits of growing their own garden while also learning and playing in a virtual world online.

It all starts with the Growums garden kit, containing everything a child needs to grow a real garden – whether it’s in the back yard or grown in containers on a patio or balcony. Each kit contains its own cast of “characters,” depending on what type of garden is being grown. Kids have five garden choices: Pizza, Taco, Ratatouille, Salad and Herb.

Even cooler, Growums make for a great school fundraiser!!

Check out the Growums website for more information or to buy your own character filled garden!!

Reforming School Meals

FoodCorps, a brand new national service program funded by AmeriCorps and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, launched this week and is now seeking applications for its first class of service members to dedicate a year of their lives to school food programs to help combat the national obesity epidemic.

FoodCorps members will be paid to work for a year on a variety of projects like sourcing healthful local food for school cafeterias, expanding nutrition education programs, and building and tending school gardens.

If you are a young leader who believes that children deserve to have healthy options in school, then you just may want to volunteer with FordCorps! Members will be paid to work for a year on a variety of projects like sourcing healthful local food for school cafeterias, expanding nutrition education programs, and building and tending school gardens (yay!).

Click here for more information and applications!!