St. Charles Parish Parks and Recreation Department recently held a first of its kind Garden Mini-Camp program at the Sacred Heart School in Norco, with the camp running June 26 thru June 30.
Sponsored by local nonprofit Caring Strategies, the program was offered to children aged 6 thru 10 and focusing on gardening rather sporting activities for young children.
“One of the core concepts of Parks and Recreation is conservation,” Alissa Cavaretta, Assistant Director of St. Charles Parish Parks and Recreation, Public Relations, said. “Gardening and using the earth’s resources fall into category, which made this camp a natural fit for our children.”
Unlike many summer sporting activities which often require at least some level of physical ability to participate, the program was designed to be accessible to most children regardless of physical ability. While Parks and Recreation has offered other non-sporting related event activities including painting and art related offerings, this was the first gardening-focused camp it had offered.
“The St. Charles Parish Department of Parks and Recreation strives to provide activities and programs for those of all backgrounds and abilities, and the Garden Mini-Camp highlights the pillar of inclusivity of our programming,” Cavaretta mentioned.
The idea for the mini-camp grew after Sandra O-Brien, Director of Caring Strategies, approached the Parks and Recreation Department earlier this year with an idea to host a garden camp for young children. The event was the first such partnership with O’Brien, an elementary educator with 44 years’ experience as a teacher, and the nonprofit she leads. O’Brien’s Caring Strategies is a Destrehan-based organization focused on creating various types of educational programs for young children in the local area. For the Garden Mini-Camp, Caring Strategies supplied a director and two high school counselors to run the one-week program.
This year’s first-ever Garden Mini-Camp allowed kids to create their own garden, and grow vegetables and herbs found on pizza using critical thinking skills and problem-solving techniques. The camp concluded with a pizza lunch on the final day, which is when the young participants in the camp were allowed to take home their herbs home, allowing them to continue growing them into the future.
“The Garden Mini-Camp was an immersive and multi-disciplinary learning experience for children using techniques combined with science, math, art and reading for children to learn how to garden and experience the joy of tasting and cooking,” Cavaretta. “These children were able to explore the natural world in their adventures and instill a deeper connection and understanding of nature through an accessible and understandable activity of creating a pizza from start to finish, something they will see regularly in their lives.”
Cavaretta said Parks and Recreation plans to hold another such camp next summer for St. Charles Parish children.
For more information on this and other Parks and Recreation summer programs available for St. Charles Parish children, visit scpparksandrec.com, their Facebook page (@scpparksandrec) or on Instagram (@scpparksandrecreation).
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