Kahn's Garden - Yiladim at Play

Download PDF of Asheville JCC Garden Curriculum

Garden Journal

	The Asheville JCC was recently awarded a grant from the Covenant Foundation to develop our children's gardening curriculum.  Learn More >>>
The JCC's Children's Educational Garden is made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. Learn how you can help support the garden through our legacy campaign.

The Asheville JCC’s educational garden, founded in October of 2008, provides a variety of hands-on learning experiences for children enrolled in our programs. The design of the garden and activities incorporates environmental themes based on Judaic values: Bal Taschit (Do Not Destroy); L’ovda U’l’shomra (To Work and Keep the Land); Shomrei Adamah (Guardian of the Earth); and Tikkun Olam (Repair of the World). Children participate in age-appropriate activities that teach how their actions directly impact the earth.

Through their own planting, nurturing and harvesting activities, children learn about the cycles of nature and how these relate to Jewish beliefs. Children gain first-hand knowledge of their relationship to the earth, and will ultimately understand the physical and moral imperatives for environmental stewardship. We believe that in order to achieve enduring insights, children must be engaged in meaningful experiences that provide opportunities for them to discover knowledge through their own experimentation and observation. In our garden, childrengrow food, see the importance of water and soil, and experience the rewards of caring for their plants from seedling, to flower, to fruit and learn to save seeds for the next planting season.

By focusing the lessons of our garden activities through the lens of larger Jewish concepts, we seek to give our children a deeper insight into their connection with and responsibility to take care of the earth. It is essential for children to participate in numerous interactions with nature and to witness the results of their participation in the world around them in order to appreciate their power to influence the world.