South Hero kids got outside in all kinds of ways this summer. Check it out!

Food & Fun: Kids in the Garden

Kids from the Champlain Islands Parent Child Center summer camp grew tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and peas in the Folsom School & Community Garden this summer. After learning about planning, planting, and caring for the garden with SHLT staff Guy Maguire, the kids visited the garden almost every day—watering, weeding, and harvesting! They made meals from the produce they harvested, and used the garden space for art, music, and other activities.

Volunteers cared for the rest of the summertime garden, growing and donating 60 lbs of vegetables to Food for Thought and 15 lbs to the Grand Isle Food Shelf. Fall harvests are going to students at the school for snacks and school lunches.

Up in the Garden, Down in the Woods: Story Walk at Round Pond

For the second summer in a row, we partnered with the South Hero’s Worthen Library to create a pop-up “storybook walk,” this year at the conserved Round Pond Natural Area. “Up in the Garden, Down in the Dirt,” (written by local author Kate Messner and illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal) was divided up into individual pages placed along the trail with the help of volunteers. Visitors made their way through the book as they walked from the trailhead to the lake.

In May, we hosted a story walk at Round Pond to coincided with the kickoff of the Library’s Summer Reading Program. Kids enjoyed taking turns reading the pages aloud to their friends and families at each stop, rushing between each one and waiting (almost) patiently for the adults to arrive. As they walked down to the lake through the meadows and forests, the book took them on a journey through 4 seasons in a garden, ending as they rounded a corner with a sunny view of the lake.

Exploring the World Together: Backpack Toolkits Make it Possible!

While the great outdoors isn’t far away in South Hero, many barriers can get in the way of kids exploring the natural world. From increased pressure of homework and screens, to a lack of adult companionship outdoors, kids often spend the majority of their time inside. South Hero Land Trust is working with two new partners to change that for kids in Grand Isle County.

The Grand Isle County Mentoring Program pairs students with community mentors in all five County towns. The pairs meet weekly at their local schools to read, play games, work on projects, and learn together. The Champlain Islands Parent Child Center provides early education for young children and an after-school/summer program for school-aged children. Both programs were looking for ways to lead more hand-on activities outside, and were excited to join our Young Explorers Project this summer.

The collaboration with Land Trust began when some of our mentors expressed a desire for more hands-on outdoor activity choices during the school year. With South Hero Land Trust’s long history of getting students outside, active, and exploring the natural world it seemed like a perfect partnership for our program.

~Liese Reagan, GIC Mentoring Program Coordinator

As part of our Young Explorers Project, SHLT built special backpack toolkits for each program (with partial funding from RiseVT). Themes range from pond or forest exploration to gardening and healthy eating, and the kits include books and tools specific to those themes. We developed trainings to empower teachers and mentors in each town to enjoy outdoor activities in learning, play, and exploration.

Exploring the outdoors with a parent, teacher, or mentor is often the first step is a child’s lifelong enjoyment of the natural world. We are excited to see local children and their adult companions on many adventures outside. If you are interested in your own outdoor adventure, visit the Worthen Library and check out one of their Young Explorer kits!