Garden, flowers, plants

Below are some ideas for reminiscence workshops that focus on garden, flowers and plants. Choose one or two activities depending on the size and capabilities of the group.

Materials

• paper
• scissors
• pencils
• old magazines for cutting up
• scrap paper
• glue sticks

Handling objects

• photographs / garden magazines
• garden flowers
• seed packets
• fresh herbs
• fresh vegetables and fruit

Other resources

• music

Discussion points

Start off by asking if anyone has a garden. How big? What sort of things grow there? Do you have any fruit or vegetables?

Ask if anyone has been to an ornamental or public garden. What was it like? Did it have water /fountains? What plants were flowering?

Do you have a favourite flower in the garden? What does it look like? Does it have a scent? What time of year does it flower?

Practical activities

Pass around one of the handling objects and discuss. For example,

• Have you planted seeds?
• Do you/family grow tomatoes?
• Do you/family have a greenhouse?
• Do the flowers smell?
• What do the herbs smell like?
• What do we use these herbs with?
• Does anyone have fruit trees? What are they?
• If appropriate all have fresh vegetables and fruit for tasting and discuss.
• Have you ever picked blackberries?

Create a garden collage picture out of old magazines or coloured paper. Perhaps you could take the nursery rhyme ‘Mary, Mary, quite contrary’ as inspiration.