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RHS report says gardening makes children happy and teaches new skills

Tcl has welcomed a Royal Horticultural Society report which says taking part in gardening at school can help children feel happy and boost their development.

The study of 1,300 teachers and 10 schools found children in schools which encouraged gardening became more resilient, confident and lived healthier lives.

The RHS says school gardening should be used as a key teaching tool, rather than as an extra-curricular activity.

Researchers at the National Foundation for Educational Research, who carried out the study for the RHS, said it encouraged pupils to become more active in solving problems, as well as boosting literacy and numeracy skills.

Researchers said the changeable nature of gardening projects - where anything from the weather to plant disease can affect the outcome – obliged children to become more flexible and better able to think on their feet and solve problems, while exposing small children to insects helped them to overcome their fears, and waiting for crops to grow taught children patience.

Gardening also helped teach about healthy living and healthy eating, with children more willing to try new vegetables if they had grown their own crops, they said.

Dr Simon Thornton Wood, director of science and learning at the RHS, added "As the new coalition government considers a new approach to the primary curriculum, we hope they acknowledge the striking conclusions of our research. Schools which integrate gardens into the curriculum are developing children who are much more responsive to the challenges of adult life."