Educational Program: "Phytotherapy and Creativity in the City of Plants" – perfectly suited for the "Thumbelina" Smart Greenhouse
- GREENBAR
- Jan 12
- 6 min read
This children's program combines environmental education, sensory development, and project-based learning.
Required Equipment:
Basic mini city farm with digital control – the desktop smart greenhouse "Thumbelina."
Professional stationary bio-laboratory with "Virtual Agronomist" software.
Профессиональная стационарная био лаборатория на ПО "Виртульный агроном"
Target Group: 12 children of senior preschool age (5-7 years old).Format: Group sessions (12 children) with elements of individual work (personal pot).Course Duration: 1-2 months (cycle from planting to first harvest and analysis).Core Principle: Learning-by-doing and sensory integration.
Goals and Objectives of the Program:
Goal: Comprehensive development of the child through practical gardening and sensory exploration of plants.Objectives:
Cognitive: Introduce the diversity of plants, their growing conditions, and the concept of "variety."
Sensory: Actively develop all channels of perception (touch, smell, taste, sight).
Speech: Enrich active vocabulary (adjectives: velvety, minty, serrated, variegated; verbs: observe, care for, smell, taste).
Social-Communicative: Teach teamwork, sharing impressions, and justifying one's choices.
Creative: Creating a "sensory herbarium," a collective "mint bouquet," and nature drawings.
Emotional: Fostering a caring attitude towards living things, responsibility, and the ability to rejoice in results.
Course Structure and Content:
Module 1: Start. "Meeting the Residents of Our City."
Lesson 1: "What is Phytotherapy? Our Green Doctors and Friends." Children choose their pots and get acquainted with the tools (greenbar).
Practice: Planting seeds or seedlings of selected crops. Each child can have 2-3 pots: one common (e.g., mint) and one of their choice (basil, kale, edible flowers).
Observation Diary: We start a diary where children draw the growth stages.
Module 2: Research. "Secrets of the Mint Kingdom." (Focus on mint as the most diverse object)
Lesson 2: "Sight and Touch."
"Find the Pair" Game: Children are given leaves of different mint varieties (apple, chocolate, variegated, etc.). They need to find the corresponding plant in the bed/pot by its leaf.
Sensory Basket: Texture exploration. Children find leaves matching the description: soft, fluffy (apple mint), smooth and shiny (citrus mint), curly (Moroccan mint), velvety (lavender mint), bumpy (variegated mint).
Artist's Palette: We study and name shades: light green, minty, dark green, with red veins, with a cream edge.
Lesson 3: "Smell and Taste."
"Guess the Aroma" Game: With eyes closed, children smell different mint varieties. They describe: "smells like apple," "smells like candy," "smells like lemon," "cold smell (menthol)."
Tasting Ritual (IMPORTANT: with parental permission and no allergies!): We brew light tea from each variety or simply chew a clean leaf. Taste test on the tip of the tongue. Discuss the taste: sweetish, fruity, refreshing, sharp, delicate.
Voting: "Which mint did you like the most? Why?" We build a preference chart.
Lesson 4: "Under the Microscope."
We use a children's USB microscope connected to an interactive panel.
We examine how a smooth leaf differs from a velvety one (trichomes/hairs are visible). We look for "patterns" and veins on the leaf.
Creativity: Drawing an "enlarged" mint leaf as seen through the microscope.
Module 3: Creative-Final. "Creating Our Own Garden."
Lesson 5: "My Ideal Bouquet."
Children become "garden designers." They are asked to create their own bouquet from 2-3 types of mint (we cut cuttings that can be rooted).
Presentation: Each child explains their choice: "I chose apple mint because it's soft and smells like pie, and chocolate mint because its leaves are beautiful, and I love chocolate."
We create a shared "sensory map of the mint kingdom" – a large poster with images of varieties, attached real leaves, and children's captions: "soft," "tasty," "cold," etc.
Lesson 6: "Harvest Festival."
We gather the first harvest of basil, kale. We prepare a simple dish (e.g., mint cupcakes, lemonade, salad).
Reflection: What was memorable? What was most interesting? Awarding "Young Phytotherapist Diplomas."
Organizational Aspects:
Choice of Crops: You proposed a perfect set. To add:
Basil: Huge variety of cultivars (purple, lemon, cinnamon) – continues the theme.
Kale (leaf cabbage): Decorative, various shapes and colors – for sight and touch.
Oregano, Thyme: Interesting texture and smell.
Edible Flowers: Nasturtium (sharp taste), violets.
Working with the greenbar (smart greenhouse):
Children learn to read data: is there enough light, what's the temperature, does it need watering?
We introduce "duty agronomists" who take sensor readings and report to the group.
Individualization: Each child has a zone of responsibility (their pot) and the opportunity to choose (which variety to plant, what to taste, which bouquet to create).
Safety: Mandatory parental consent for tasting. Clear rule: NOTHING is to be tasted without the teacher's permission. Only known, safe plants.
A well-designed children's program turns a smart greenhouse into a real laboratory of wonders, where every child can be a magician, scientist, artist, and gardener. Growing plants becomes a scientific-research, playful path of self-discovery through nature.
The Program's Value: "A Sensory Laboratory in a Pot"
This program is not about plants, but about developing a child's brain through direct contact with living nature. Every action is a neuro-exercise.
1. Development of Thinking and Cognitive Functions (Children understand...)
Scientific Thinking: Children grasp basic scientific principles: cause-and-effect (watered – grew), cyclicality (seed-sprout-plant), hypothesis and observation ("Which mint do you think smells like lemon? Let's check!").
Categorization and Analysis: The child learns to sort, compare, and classify: "These are all mint, but this one is apple mint, and that one is chocolate mint. This one has smooth leaves, that one has fluffy leaves." This is the foundation of logical thinking.
Speech and Conceptual Development: The program enriches vocabulary not just with nouns (mint), but with qualitative adjectives and complex concepts:
Tactile: velvety, rough, resilient, tender, prickly.
Taste: tart, refreshing, sweetish, menthol, herbal.
Olfactory: spicy, floral, fruity, woody.
Visual: variegated, serrated, veined, matte, glossy.
Memory and Attention Training: To care for "their" mint, the child must remember its features and distinguish it from others. The "Find Yours" game is an excellent trainer for voluntary attention.
2. Development of Motor Skills and Tactile Intelligence (Children develop skills...)
Fine Motor Skills (fine movements of the hand and fingers):
Pincer Grip: Planting small seeds, arranging leaves for a herbarium.
Eye-Hand Coordination: Carefully loosening soil around a sprout, cutting a leaf for tasting with scissors.
Strength and Dexterity: Unscrewing a watering can lid, pressing a spray bottle.
✱ These actions directly prepare the hand for writing and stimulate the brain's speech centers.
Tactile Development (enhancing "feel" and sensitivity):
The skin of the fingers is the largest sensory organ. By exploring leaf textures (fluffy, smooth, rough), the child creates a "tactile map" of the world in the brain.
This teaches nuance discrimination, develops sensory differentiation (understanding the difference between similar sensations). This is the basis for many skills – from buttoning clothes to identifying an object in a pocket by touch.
Reducing Tactile Defensiveness: For children irritated by certain textures, gentle and voluntary interaction with plants (e.g., with tender "fluffy" mint) can become safe therapy.
3. Development of Sensory Integration and Emotional Intelligence (Important for the brain...)
Sensory Integration: The brain learns to synchronize signals from different senses. The child sees a green leaf, touches it (smooth), smells it (smells like lemon), and tastes it (sour-refreshing). The brain creates a single, multidimensional image of "lemon mint." This is the basis for holistic world perception.
Emotional Regulation: Caring for plants is a meditative, calming process. It reduces anxiety, teaches patience and responsibility. The aromas of many herbs (mint, lavender) have a proven relaxing effect (aromatherapy).
Developing Empathy and Environmental Awareness: The child projects their feelings onto the plant ("it needs water, it's thirsty," "it feels good in the sun"). This fosters a careful, caring attitude towards all living things.
Decision-Making and Taste Development: "Which mint will I choose for my bouquet and why?" – This is an exercise in self-discovery, forming preferences, and the ability to justify them.
Why is the program unique?
It transforms abstract "developmental tasks" into concrete, lively, emotionally charged actions. The child doesn't train motor skills for the sake of it – they plant a seed to grow a friend. They don't memorize adjectives – they search for a word to describe the magical smell of their plant. They learn digital plant management technologies. The program is supplied with a full equipment set – the "Smart Greenhouse."
The Core Value: The program cultivates not only plants but also a curious, sensitive person with developed sensory and motor intelligence, capable of seeing, feeling, and analyzing the diversity of the world. This is an investment in the neuroplasticity of a child's brain through the most natural and ancient tool – nature.
