Our playground is more than just a place to relax and unwind. While we definitely run and dance and play, several curricula intersect here. This unstructured time is central to Social Emotional Learning. Here we are within nature where we stop to learn about biology and ecology. We watch the bugs and birds, especially butterflies and grackles. We see pollen falling down and the peach blossoms open up. We might take a tumble here or there, and we learn to get up and keep on.
Springtime brings a lot of changes to the playground. While this year it hasn’t brought Austin the rain we’d like, that won’t stop us from planting a garden to care for and, hopefully, harvest in May or June. This is an annual tradition at HMS. Most years we just let our winter greens mature and plant some spring flowers. This year, it was reversed. In the fall we planted some flowers and this week we can thank a parent volunteer for helping us with some veggie and herb plantings – more and better than we done before!
Below is the progress of our 2026 garden. Check back here for updates.
Wednesday, April 16 – Today saw the first flower on a tomato plant and we mounded up the potatoes (photo, above), including one that may turn out to be a “super-producer.” While working with the dirt, a 3-year-old stated “I want to eat the potato,” and then asked “Where is it?” When told it will be in the ground but not until summer when it’s really hot, he declared that “Potatoes are weird.” We agree, friend, we agree. But as so often happen, we need to wait for the good things in life. We did say here earlier that this is a lesson in patience.
Monday, March 25 – After reading about seeds and roots and stems, we got our hands dirty and planted three tomato plants, lots of seeds for herbs and a dozen or so potato cuttings.
There really isn’t much to see yet (this is also a lesson in patience).
