Welcome to the Children's Garden!
Blooming flowers and healthy choices are a way of life in the Children's Garden, an inspiring space for growth and life learning for the children of Big Sur. Located at Captain Cooper Elementary School, Garden Director Lauren Gamblin leads school children in weekly explorations of creativity and ecology, organizes art projects and events in the garden and maintains this community resource so it will be a source of inspiration and learning for years to come.
Check out the slideshow from the Children's Garden in 2008!
2008-2009 School Year
The garden theme this sc
hool year is "Seeds of Service". Come visit us up at the garden and see all the ways this spirit is alive! Our intention is to plant many seeds, in service to healthy children, a healthy community and a healthy earth.
In the Spirit of Service...
As with all valuable local resources, the garden needs regular community support to thrive. Call 831-667-1530 or join our Arts Corps volunteer e-mail list to find out about upcoming community work days. We are also seeking donations of supplies or art installations by local artists, to contribute to the inspiring and vibrant energy of the place. Please call us at 831-667-1530 to learn more.
History
The Big Sur Arts Initiative began the Children’s Garden at the Captain Cooper School of Big Sur in 1998. First under the direction of Merrie Potter, the Children’s Garden has evolved into a living classroom - an educational program providing weekly in-school gardening classes (not to mention healthy food!) for kids in grades K-5. Accomplishments and activities over the past nine years have included:
- cooking presentations with local chefs
- an educational newsletter
- the reclamation of a 1 mile long nature trail adjacent to the garden
- community workday
- the coordination of over 100 high school seniors to replant hillsides and pathways with native plants
- building a new shade house for extended outdoor work
- the implementation of a recycling program including a compost bin and a wormery, diminishing school lunch trash by 50% while teaching principles of ecology
- a solar pond and a sensory garden