Generations Gardening Together: Sourcebook for Intergenerational Therapeutic Horticulture

by Larson; Jean M.

• ISBN13: 9781560223207
• ISBN10: 1560223200
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2006-05-11
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

Bring a Sensory Garden to life in a structured therapeutic horticulture program! Intergenerational gardening programs bring the generations together. This book presents a tested, hands-on, easy-to-use activity plan that benefits the development of relationships between adults over 70 and school-age children. It shows how to limit frustration for both groups, how to plan activities that are functional and non-contrived, and how to assure that the interaction between elders and children is rewarding and pleasant for both. The activities rely on inexpensive, readily available tools and resources available throughout the growing season. While other books have discussed designing a Sensory Garden for people with disabilities, Generations Gardening Together applies the Sensory Garden design to a specific population, with a focus on the human senses that are stimulated by the garden. This unique sourcebook shows you, step-by-step, how a Sensory Garden can come alive in a structured therapeutic horticulture program. Generations Gardening Together shows how to create a Sensory Garden that will stimulate young and old gardeners alike. It outlines a six-week program curriculum that has been used and developed over ten years to use gardening as a program to bring generations together. You'll learn therapeutic techniques that benefit elders by promoting self-esteem, creating feelings of pride, competence, and satisfaction--both from creating a garden and through passing on their knowledge and wisdom to the younger generation, inspiring them to use both their long-term and short-term memory skills, increasing physical stimulation, and providing the comfort of familiar plants and their aromas, which can trigger memories of people, places, and vocations. The activities in the book also benefit children through the establishment of a safe environment where people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities can come together--an ideal social situation in which youth can seek the wisdom of elders. Children learn important lessons about accountability, nurturing, and responsibility, for working in a garden teaches youth about life, death, hope, patience, and beauty. Each activity session described in Generations Gardening Together includes the following information: title--describes the content of the program general statement of purpose--identifies the intent of the program goal(s)--outlines the expected outcome(s) of the activity program procedures--provides a detailed description of each step and the order of the program's activities evaluation--includes what and how therapeutic program goals are to be measured and recorded materials and equipment--identifies all the necessary equipment and supplies needed to facilitate the program activity This important resource shows how to provide appropriate (separate) orientation to seniors and children, what to emphasize and what to avoid in creating a program in your community, how to create garden themes that reflect the interests of the participants (ethnic foods, bird and butterfly gardens, planting to attract wildlife, etc.), how to decide what activities are appropriate for the developmental level of the participants, and much more. Generations Gardening Together is an essential resource for therapeutic recreation specialists, occupational therapists, therapeutic horticulture professionals, activity coordinators, master gardeners, and anyone working in an environment where elders and children come together.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Carla E.S. Tabourne
Chapter 1. Introduction	1	(8)
Objective of Sourcebook and Benefits of Intergenerational Gardening	1	(2)
Benefits for the Elderly	3	(1)
Benefits for the Children	4	(1)
How to Use This Sourcebook	4	(5)
Chapter 2. Strategies for Working with Elders and Children	9	(4)
Developing Program Content	9	(2)
Promoting Interaction	11	(2)
Chapter 3. Designing Accessible Gardens	13	(14)
Accessible Design Standards	14	(1)
Accessible Containers	15	(2)
Constructing a Raised Bed Planter	17	(1)
Suggestions for a Sensory Garden: Choosing Plants That Stimulate All Five Senses	18	(3)
Basic Sensory Garden Design	21	(6)
Chapter 4. Six-Week Intergenerational Sensory Garden Activity Plans	27	(50)
Awakening the Senses in the Garden: Overall Program Overview	27	(1)
Preprogram Orientation for Elders	28	(2)
Preprogram Orientation for Children	30	(1)
Week #1: Getting to Know You	31	(6)
Week #2: The Brain and the Senses	37	(8)
Week #3: Sound and the Ear	45	(10)
Week #4: Sight and the Eye	55	(6)
Week #5: The Sense of Touch	61	(7)
Week #6: The Senses of Taste and Smell	68	(8)
Postprograrn Party	76	(1)
Certificate of Completion Example	76	(1)
Chapter 5. Evaluation Strategies	77	(10)
Rationale to Evaluation	77	(1)
Evaluation Example	77	(1)
Postevaluation	78	(3)
Resources	81	(1)
Basic Horticulture	81	(1)
Botanic Gardens and Arboreta	81	(1)
Honeybees	82	(1)
Horticultural Therapy	83	(1)
Intergenerational Programs	83	(1)
Sensory Gardens	84	(1)
Therapeutic Garden Program Curriculum	85	(1)
Tools	85	(1)
Universal Design	86	(1)
Index	87