Tiny Seeds to Big Dreams

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Tiny Seeds to Big Dreams is our chosen Start Small Dream Big (SSDB) project, which provided the children with meaningful, hands on experiences in planting, watering, observing and caring for plants. Through their involvement in the MK Garden, our K1 children learnt about how plants grow while developing a sense of responsibility and appreciation for nature.

In collaboration with NParks – Community in Bloom, the project encouraged children to develop simple sustainable habits and understand how their actions can contribute to caring for the environment.

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As a pre-activity, the children explored the existing MK Garden and visited the garden at Junyuan Primary School, where they went on a plant hunt to observe the different types of plants growing around them. Through their observations and discussions, the children identified the characteristics of different plants and learnt about what plants need to grow and stay healthy.

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The following week, the children and teachers came together for our SSDB Launch Day. The children were introduced to our Tiny Seeds to Big Dreams project and learnt about their role in caring for the garden. They discussed how to care for plants through planting and watering, and how these simple actions can contribute to a greener and more sustainable environment. To mark the official start of the project, the children participated in a ribbon-cutting and ground-breaking ceremony.

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The children then took part in a variety of hands on gardening activities, such as exploring different seeds, mixing soil using shovels, and planting basil and kangkong seeds in egg planters. They also started their plant journals, where they recorded the type of seed they planted and documented their initial observations of its appearance.

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To further support our gardening journey, we collaborated with Ms Faye from NParks, who visited our garden and shared valuable insights on how we could improve the space for our plants to thrive. She also recommended suitable plants that would provide meaningful experiences for the children and connected us with a community gardener near our school. A gardening workshop was subsequently conducted for the teachers, where we picked up basic gardening skills through hands on experiences such as propagating plants through cuttings and planting edibles. It was an enjoyable and enriching experience that equipped us with useful knowledge and skills to guide the children in caring for the garden.

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The children continued to care for their seedlings, observing and recording their growth in their plant journals. As the seedlings grew, they transplanted them into larger pots to provide more space for growth. With the knowledge and skills gained from the gardening workshop, teachers were better equipped to guide and support the children throughout their gardening journey.

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To wrap up our SSDB journey, the children reflected on their gardening experiences and the knowledge and skills they had gained. They were able to put their learning into practice when they brought home a seedling from their learning journey at City Sprouts to continue caring for it. As the edibles in our garden grew, the children also had opportunities to bring home cuttings, extending their gardening experience beyond MK.