Resource: Schoolyard Habitat and Food Programs

Title:	Schoolyard Habitat and Food Programs
Resource type:	Grant/loan
Topics:	Communities, Ecosystems, Education, Individual Choices
Keywords:	grant, schools, Edible Schoolyard Project, school yards, habitat restoration
Audience:	Education
Region:	Minnesota Statewide, Outside Minnesota
Summary:	Information, funding, and assistance are available for educators and school communities interested in creating or restoring wildlife habitat and kitchen gardens on K-12 school grounds.
Content:	The National Wildlife Federation's Schoolyard Habitats program provides resources and materials for educators and school communities interested in creating or restoring wildlife habitat on their school grounds. At the web site below, there are useful suggestions for starting schoolyard habitat projects. Additional information and assistance is available from EcoSchool Design (http://www.ecoschools.com/), an organization that assists schools, and those who care about them, in transforming paved schoolyards into vibrant ecosystems for outdoor learning. This site includes case studies dealing with energy and water use, waste, ecobuilding and participation, in addition to wildlife and gardens. Information for creating school gardens and food projects is available at http://www.sustainabletable.org/schools/projects/, a section of the Sustainable Table web site, and at http://www.kidsgardening.com/resources/resource.asp, the Kids Gardening site which includes sources of grant funding. For other sources of funding and information, see SchoolGrants at http://www.schoolgrants.org/, the Edible Schoolyard at http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/, and Gardening Matters in the Twin Cities metro area at http://www.gardeningmatters.org/ See also the Sustainable Schoolyard website ( http://www.sustainableschoolyard.org) for outdoor classroom concepts, ecological teaching tools, and creative play ideas that can be added to almost any school yard in America. See also the Flowers, Plants and Gardening For Kids web site of Serenata Flowers at http://www.serenataflowers.com/Flowers-plants-and-gardening-for-kids This site has a wide range of useful links related to working with children on gardening.
Website:	http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor-Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife/Schoolyard-Habitats.aspx
Suggested by:	Philipp Muessig
Added:	12/17/03
Updated:	06/27/11