Our Pre-school children take part in Forest Schools. When planning the garden the children referred to their forest schools experience. They learned about The Glasgow Coat of Arms as part of stories, myths and legends. The symbols shown represent Saint Mungo, the Patron Saint of Glasgow. We have been inspired by the words:

The Tree that never grew- One of the stories depicts the tree as a giant oak tree. We thought it would be fun doing the reverse for our pocket garden. We used an Acer to teach the children all about Bonsai. This technique restricts the growth of the plant.

The Bell – This was represented by planting aquilegia as the flower is shaped like a bell.

The Bird that never flew – The children placed their toy robin in our garden. We also recycled plastic bottles for bird feeders to encourage more birds into our garden.

The Fish that never swam - Carrier bags were used to create the fish and the ring. The children learned about plastic pollution in our oceans, and how it is damaging our ecosystem.

We used old pallets that were left behind by workmen.

We used the campfire stand with the flowers in the middle to represent our campfire.

The children love moss and wanted to use it in their pocket garden to attract minibeasts. The children learned that moss needs a shaded area to grow. As our garden is in full sun it was not a good environment for the moss to thrive. The children decided to bring logs and sticks from forest school to attract the bugs and minibeasts instead.

A parent donated packets of wildflower seeds. These were planted to attract bees to our garden. The children also cut down bamboo from our garden to make a bug hotel. We used old wellie boots to plant the seedlings on as they grew.

We planted chives and thyme, kindly donated by a parent. Not only do they taste good the flowers attract the bees.  A grandparent donated chocolate mint cuttings for the children to plant and taste.

When the plants grow we will plant them into our back garden.

Working on the pocket garden project opened up so many learning opportunities for the children. They learned about the importance of taking care of our immediate environment, the oceans and our entire planet.