The Friends of Robinson Gardens, although socially distanced, has not been idle. As the gardens have been quiet and missing the laughter of children taking the science tours, we decided to take the Science Program to the schools and to the children. Through a newly crafted, Semi-Virtual Program, lovingly called FRoG (Friends of Robinson Gardens Semi Virtual Science Program), we have accomplished that.
The first of three units is Nutrition and Healthy Living. This program includes boxes for delivery to each child and the teachers. We have written it to focus on Grades 2-4 in Title One Schools and Group Homes.
The study box includes a 5-minute video tour of Robinson Gardens and a 3-minute video focusing on our garden and nutrition, eating healthy, and a visit to our Kitchen Garden and the chicken coop. We have provided worksheets and a salad bowl filled with crayons, pencils, scissors, and healthy snacks among many other items. They are all wrapped up like a gift in cellophane. We have a developed a FRoG Logo (Friends of Robinson Gardens) to brand this program. The notebooks are filled with games, puzzles, worksheets, Sam’s Super Salad book (written by Joan Selwyn and Tim Lindsay), and recipe cards for healthy snacks.
Assembly and delivery were done with the help of our wonderful Friends and the County team. Happily, FRoG has been met with much enthusiasm from the children and the teachers! Presently, over 400 children are participating. We plan to therefore expand this program to include units on Plants (unit 2) and The Life Cycle of a Frog (unit 3), focusing on our newly completed Children’s Wildlife Pond.
Our hope is to bring the wonders of VRG through FRoG into schools and homes to encourage and entice children to bring their families and friends to visit our wonderful Gardens.
Post by FRoG Committee Members Leslie Kavanaugh, Patti Reinstein, Kerstin Royce and President Betty Goldstein
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