Growing Healthy Habits includes 9 units that can be timed with the school year or growing season:

• What’s So Great About Gardening?• Parts of the Plant That We Eat• Feed the Soil…

and the Soil Will Feed You• Variety: The Spice of Life• Plan Your Planting• Seed Magic• Keep it Growing• Healthy Harvest• Garden Fitness

Students learning with Growing Healthy Habits are eager to try vegetables they are growing and learning about. Here is what some have said about trying new vegetables…

“I can’t wait to taste the fruit and vegetables from our school garden! They are going to taste so good, especially since we planted them!”

“Red pepper and I used to be enemies, but now we are friends.”

“Wow this is really good, I am so glad I am in this class, we get to try some really cool stu� .”

• Background information for the teacher

• Common Core linkages• 4 lesson plans including healthy

recipes• Student journal assignments and

handouts• Grades K-5• Average lesson length 30-45 min

timed with the school year or growing season:

Parts of the Plant That We Eat

• recipes4 lesson plans including healthy

What is Growing Healthy Habits?Growing Healthy Habits (GHH) is a gardening and nutrition education curriculum designed to inspire learners to increase their consumption of vegetables. GHH provides the framework that transforms the gardening experience into a nutrition education program. Lessons help students develop an appreciation of fresh fruits and vegetables while exploring the growing process, building an understanding of where food comes from and tasting fresh vegetables in recipes that they help to prepare. This curriculum meets Common Core Standards, Environmental Literacy Standards and corresponds with the Maryland growing season.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.This material was funded by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - SNAP in cooperation with Maryland’s Department of Human Services and University of Maryland Extension. The University of Maryland Extension will not discriminate against any person because of race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or national origin, marital status, genetic information, political a� liation, and gender identity or expression.

Parents love Growing Healthy Habits, as one parent said:

”I am so glad to see the kids outside getting some exercise rather than propped behind a screen playing video games or texting.”

Teachers use Growing Healthy Habits to engage learners and meet classroom needs…The curriculum provides e� ective, easy ways to introduce manydi� erent vegetables to students and increases interest andengagement in math, science, culture, and language art activities.

Teachers of students with special needs and higher grades havefound the curriculum to be easy to modify, and the hands-onactivities enhanced the learning experiences for their students.

Growing Healthy Habits encourageshealthy behaviors in and out of the classroom…Students have multiple opportunities to grow and taste vegetables during the Growing Healthy Habits program.

Teachers report that students increasingly share nutrition information with their family and friends and consume more fruits and vegetables after participating in the Growing Healthy Habitscurriculum.

Youth often learn healthy behaviors by watching important people in their lives demonstrate such behaviors. Teachers who are trained to implement Growing Healthy Habits report a signi� cant increase in their modeling of healthy behaviors, including drinking water and choosing fruits or vegetables as snacks.

For more information, contact Heather Buritsch at buritsch@umd.edu