The Bountiful Benefits of CYC's Gardening Program

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting or attending one of CYC’s flagship Centers, you’ve likely spent some time in one of our gardens! CYC-Epstein’s expansive garden is award-winning, while CYC-Crown’s charming garden is a great place to grow herbs and veggies! CYC-Dorothy Gautreaux’s garden boasts sky-high sunflowers and is overflowing with chard, kale, and sweet peppers. Gardening is an important element of CYC’s program delivery, as our clubs not only encourage our youth to spend time outside and get their hands dirty, they also learn all about plant life cycles, healthy eating, and how to plant and grow all kinds of herbs, flowers, fruits, and vegetables. 

 Here are five reasons why gardening is great for our CYC kids and families (and everyone!): 

 Healthy Habits: Gardening encourages children to eat what they grow, and enjoy the results of their hard work! It’s no surprise that fruits, veggies, and herbs taste better when you’ve grown them yourself, but working hands-on with healthy foods encourages conscious snacking as well. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption boosts nutrition and leads to longer, healthier, and more active lives - what could be better than that? 

Good to Grow: Working in the garden is an excellent source of exercise, but it’s also good for mental health too! Spending time planting and growing flowers, herbs, veggies, and fruits provides wellness benefits such as stress relief, self-confidence, as well as improved focus and memory. 

 Planting Strong Roots: One major benefit to gardening is that it can save money! When done intentionally, gardening can help to reduce food costs and save trips to the grocery store. By investing money in seeds, gardening tools, and plants, CYC families can grow pounds of fruits and veggies to help them spend less at the store. 

 Blossoming Big: Learning about how to garden, which plants will thrive in specific environments, and the life cycle of various plants improve STEM, analytic, and cognitive abilities in children. Studies show that students who engage in gardening tend to score higher on science achievement tests. Learning to care for plants properly also encourages responsibility, attention, and proper planning  - all critical thinking skills that will help youth flourish academically! 

 Sowing Seeds of Greatness: Chicago experiences its fair share of seasons, making outdoor gardening a little trickier year-round. Thankfully, there are plenty of indoor options! Houseplants can increase oxygen levels indoors and improve air quality, which helps to mitigate diseases. In CYC’s Family Engagement program, we led an aquaponics club, which taught youth and families how to grow plants without soil inside with the help of beta fish.  

 CYC’s gardening consultant, Ms. Margo has seen the positive results of our green spaces firsthand. 

“Gardening programs help kids in a myriad of ways. In urban spaces, we generally lack exposure to nature…kids often have a need to engage directly with the environment around them. In our CYC gardening programs, kids enjoy every aspect of gardening - it gives them a chance to get their hands dirty, observe how plants grow, explore and find insects, understand where their food comes from, and have fun while learning!” she said. “The social-emotional benefits and the confidence that learning gardening provides can have positive effects that last a lifetime.”  

At CYC, we are always looking for ways to spark curiosity and possibility in our children. Exposure to a wide variety of subjects and creative outlets is crucial for healthy development and bright futures. If you would like to support CYC’s transformative gardening programs, you can make a donation here.