DIEEC’s Let’s GROW Outside! initiative teaches professionals about the possibilities provided through outdoor gardening with young children and provides a grant-funded opportunity to make your own edible garden come to life.
During this extended professional development experience, participants will learn about the benefits of connecting children and gardening, gain knowledge and skills needed to develop and sustain a garden, understand how to use a supplemental gardening curriculum, and plan for age-appropriate garden activities with children. As part of this experience, your program will receive materials and tools needed for gardening.
The next Let’s GROW Outside! cohort will begin this fall, supporting a new group of programs that want to make outdoor gardening with children a reality! Applications will open September 15, 2025.

Harvesting Success: Celebrating the First Year of Let’s GROW Outside!
DIEEC’s Let’s GROW Outside! initiative teaches early childhood professionals about the possibilities provided through outdoor gardening with young children, offering a grant-funded opportunity to make their own edible gardens come to life. Participants learn about the benefits of connecting children and gardening, gain knowledge and skills needed to develop and sustain a garden, learn to use a supplemental gardening curriculum, and plan for age-appropriate garden activities with children. Then, they plant their gardens and watch them grow!

From Kick-off to Harvest
Like growing a garden, Let’s GROW Outside! takes time. Over a span of 8 months, starting last November, participants learned about gardening with children and had hands-on opportunities to plan, build, and sow their gardens with the support of knowledgeable professionals.
Funded through a collaboration between DIEEC and the Delaware Department of Education, the educational component of Let’s GROW! Outside is built on a unique partnership between DIEEC and UD Cooperative Extension. The initiative is anchored by four group learning sessions. Participants come together for an in-person kickoff session, continue with sessions focused on gardening basics and strategies for gardening with children, and conclude with an in-person celebration.
In between the group learning sessions, participants receive individual coaching to support them as they plan and implement their own gardens. They test their soil and receive visits from members of Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardener program, who help each program select a location and create a plan for their new garden. Participants also visit and observe at Ambassador Sites, which are early childhood programs with established gardens.
Resources often pose a roadblock to educators who want to try new things, but the Let’s GROW Outside! initiative provides each program with the necessary materials to kickstart their garden efforts, free of charge: raised beds, wire fencing, soil, plants, and more. With the knowledge gained through the learning sessions and coaching visits, participants are prepared to cultivate enriching outdoor learning experiences with their children.

Stories from the Garden
At the final event of the 8-month cohort, participants gathered at DIEEC to reflect on and celebrate their stories and experiences. Each program created a photo display documenting their gardening journey. As participants arrived, the room filled with conversation and laughter as mishaps and successes were shared. Educators shared their successes with plants like summer squash, peppers, basil and green onions. They also bonded with good-natured humor over the failure of most of their strawberry plants, acknowledging that even plants that don’t grow offer a learning opportunity. They also shared plans for the future, noting that June is still early in the growing season and that there is plenty of time left this year to apply what they’ve learned.
Highlights of the Day
Chelsea Knox of Lucky Ducklings Child Care noted that “the kids helped with every step of this,” and that parents had donated soil to the effort. When she shared photos of the children using small wheelbarrows, another educator quipped, “That was a good nap day!” provoking appreciative laughter. She reported that she had recently sent some of their garden harvest home to families!
At Precious Knowledge Early Learning Center, preschoolers planted seeds in trays indoors. When it was time to transplant, the program added flowers among the edible plants to attract pollinators. Teachers were also inspired by the program, bringing in plants to contribute to the garden.
Little Leaders in Training shared that, at their program, “We don’t have dirt and grass and soil…we have cement.” They showed that with creativity and planning, anyone can create gardening experiences for children. The program did all of its planting in grow bags in a parking garage near their Wilmington-based program! This provided an opportunity for children to learn about the needs of plants: soil, water, and sunlight.
Liz from Primeros Pasos described the sensory learning opportunities she explored with her children. She encouraged the children to dig in, feel roots, and smell onion grass. She said that “One of our favorite things was to take snacktime outdoors near the garden,” as a way to increase familiarity and comfort outdoors, and decrease fear of insects and bees.
An educator from Kids University said, “This has literally been a growing year for us in every possible way. We had a lot of teachable moments.” He noted that the supportive relationships were helpful in maintaining motivation and sharing ideas: “I can literally pull from all of you guys.”
Diana Mercado of Pirulo’s Child Care and Learning Center talked about children making connections between the school and families, and welcoming parents who wanted to support the vision she had for their garden. After explaining the gardening plan to families and children, parents offered to donate seeds and wanted to come and help build on weekends.
Congratulations to all of the programs who “grew” outside in DIEEC’s first cohort:
- All Beautiful Children Learning Academy
- Blossom and Bloom Learning Center
- Chelsea Knox (Lucky Ducklings Child Care)
- Happyland Childcare
- Jessica Arce (Nature’s Habitat Academy)
- Kids University
- Little Leaders in Training Academy
- Nathalien Woodall (We Care Daycare)
- Pirulo’s Child Care and Learning Center
- Precious Knowledge Early Learning Center
- Primeros Pasos

Want to start your own garden? The next Let’s GROW Outside! cohort will begin this fall, supporting a new group of programs that want to make outdoor gardening with children a reality! Applications will open on September 19.
Written by Stephanie Thompson, images by Christian S. Ferrell/DIEEC
Let’s Go Outside
In spring of 2021, the DIEEC launched a brand new professional learning experience that immersed early childhood professionals in the benefits of outdoor classroom environments. Entitled “Let’s Go Outside”, this experience not only taught professionals about the possibilities provided through outdoor learning, it also led to grant funding opportunities for them to create classrooms of their own. In total, thirteen programs from across Delaware received funding to make their outdoor classroom visions come to life.
Since our pilot, 82 programs participated reaching a total of 5,115 children, in the Let’s Go Outside initiative! We are looking forward to additional cohorts in the future.
Below, you’ll learn about the experiences of two of them: the little school at Kids Cottage in Dover and The Kids Zone Family Child Care in Middletown.
little school at Kids Cottage (Dover)
Before
After
Created in the corner of the outside turf area, the little school’s outdoor classroom includes a stump circle, loose parts area, water pumping station, and multiple garden boxes. All pictured above, these elements come together to make a safe space where children have the freedom to solve problems, expand their imaginations, and learn on their own terms.
The new use of this space is life-changing… – Lisa Ratliff, Little School co-owner and director
The Kids Zone Family Child Care & Preschool (Middletown)
Before
After
What was once the backyard of program owner/teacher Clarise Brooks is now the exciting and welcoming outdoor classroom for the children at The Kids Zone Family Child Care. From classwork time in the stump circle to collaborative learning in the mud and dirt kitchen, the children enjoy every moment they get in their outdoor classroom.
Allows my kids to try different things and become more comfortable with the unknown.
– Clarise Brooks, The Kids Zone owner and director