Keep Jones Beautiful and UGA Cooperative Extension has helped to bring the Sprout Club to the Jones County Pre-K, a gardening club for students to learn about growing plants.
Hailey Robinson, Jones County Chamber of Commerce executive director, said she has been excited to see the club form. She said the students get really involved and excited about growing plants.
“The Sprout Club is a gardening club we have started at the Jones County Pre-K, and it is geared towards teaching children the fun and excitement of gardening,” she said. “The Sprout Club meets every other Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Pre-K, and we have started growing winter vegetables in their raised garden beds.”
She said they teach the students about soil, what makes the plants grow, how to feed the plants, and other things like that.
She said they have an activity to go along with each lesson. She said Keep Jones Beautiful is helping to facilitate the club along with UGA Cooperative Extension.
“The Sprout Club teaches the kids environmental awareness, what makes up the Earth and how plants work. It’s important for them to understand and have a love for nature. I believe this club helps foster that,” Robinson said.
The executive director said the club won’t continue through the summer, but the students should be able to see the plants they have helped to grow by the end of the school year. She said the goal with the Sprout Club is to spark an interest in gardening and create a love for outdoors starting at a young age.
“We want to draw in a younger crowd to be more involved with Keep Jones Beautiful within the school programs, community projects, our cleanups, and things of that nature,” she said. “We feel being more involved and engaged in the school system will help us facilitate that.”
Robinson said the club is free for the students to join. She said they have grown vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli.
She said the students will hopefully get to taste the food they helped to grow before the end of the school year.
“We will be doing the Sprout Club again next year. We don’t know how much of the school year the club will be, but we want to definitely continue to grow the club and spark that interest,” she said. “My favorite thing is seeing the kids so interested and involved.
They aren’t just listening.”
