UP provides preschool teachers with training on sensory gardens
The Pretoria learning institute has announced that it is also planning three similar training courses for 2023.
Educators from early childhood development (ECD) centres in Mamelodi, Bronkhorstspruit, Eersterust and Eduplex preschool in Queenswood, were recently empowered to start small-scale sensory gardens at their creches and preschools.
The idea to empower educators was as a result of a pilot project embarked on by the University of Pretoria’s (UP’s) Mamelodi campus to bear a sensory garden on their site.
The sensory garden at Mamelodi campus was conceptualised and implemented in 2021 by community-based project of the UP Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and IT (EBIT), Siyathemba Occupational Clinic at the Mamelodi Campus and Landscape Architecture students in the Department of Architecture.
The university also facilitated an online training session hosted by Dr Kate Kurkul of Merrimack College in the USA, where she educated the teachers on how they could use their gardens as outdoor classrooms. Lessons to be learned include the importance of water, the development of seed and other science-based as well as nature-related concepts.
Project leader Dr Martina Jordaan said the idea was to assist the centres improve health and develop children through enhancing their skills.
“Such gardens help to improve the health, mood and cognition of those who visit them, and provide space for physical activity, whilst spending time outdoors, breathing fresh air and being exposed to sunlight are good for their overall physical health.
“Sensory gardens include features, surfaces, objects and plants that stimulate our senses through touch, sight, scent, taste and hearing.”
Jordan said it was vital to introduce children from a young age to concepts of science, technology, engineering and medicine.
“It was lovely to see how the participants implemented many of the ideas and concepts that were shared with them, how innovative they were and to see their enjoyment of their developing gardens.”
He said the pilot project was made possible through funding received from the United States-South Africa Higher Education Network (SA-HEN), which focused on partnership-building between higher education institutions in the two countries.
“The funding also provided participating schools with plants and seeds to start greening their own school grounds.”
The imparting of knowledge by UP has seen the educators’ cultivate plants in painted tyres, while other gardens hang from cooldrink bottles.
One of the teachers involved in the project said preschools in her area did not have sensory gardens.
She said she was excited about the opportunity to teach the children in her care about nature.
Vhathu Phanda, an ECD in the heart of Mamelodi was announced the winner, along with the following learning institutes; Suikerbekkie pre-primary in Eersterust, Lethabo preschool in Bronkhorstspruit and Bophelong Community Children’s Home in Mamelodi East.
The learning institutions had entered a school gardening competition that was part of the pilot project.
UP spokesperson Liesel Swart said three similar training courses were being planned for 2023.
“A manual is being produced and an ArcGIS Storymap will be created as valuable take-aways for participants,” she said.
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