School garden in early childhood education

pedagogical tool for food and nutrition education

Abstract

School gardens provide health education and encourage the connection between food cultivation and the consumption of fruits and vegetables, fostering a more harmonious relationship with ecosystems. The objective of this article was to analyze the creation and maintenance of gardens as a pedagogical strategy in early childhood education. Action research was conducted with educators in a training course, using thematic analysis to interpret the data. Referring to Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, a garden space can be constituted as a space for ‘pretending’ food cultivation. The results found were grouped into four themes: incorporation of the garden into the school dynamics and curriculum; participation of multiple agents in the construction and maintenance of these gardens; challenges and resistance in the implementation and maintenance of gardens; and “learning by doing” in the garden, from planting to consumption. School gardens operated as educational spaces for new experiments and challenges outside the classroom. Nutrition education involves senses that need to be stimulated in a natural environment with society. The research made it clear that children's creative and innovative activities need open green space for the collective construction of a healthy life and diet in the interaction of all actors involved in daily school life.