The Innovative Thinkers Institute: Garden & Grow Division

🌱 Innovative Thinkers Institute – Garden & Grow Division 🌿
Where Young Minds Cultivate Skills, Confidence, and a Love for Nature

At the Innovative Thinkers Institute, our Garden & Grow Division combines hands-on learning with imaginative exploration, helping youth connect with nature while building lifelong skills. This unique program is designed for curious kids ages 4–11 who want to dig deeper—literally and figuratively—into gardening, sustainability, and creativity.

Whether they’re planting their first seed or learning how to make natural products, kids discover the joy of growing, creating, and sharing. Plus, through our Garden Book Club, students explore inspiring nature-themed stories and activities that expand their literacy and love for learning.

📚🌼 The Garden Book Club + Welcome Kit
Each child receives a Welcome Kit to kick-start their journey with fun, age-appropriate tools and surprises! Every month, we feature a new garden-themed book, paired with discussion prompts and creative activities that bring the story to life. We all meet once per month on Zoom to build community and share ideas.

🍎 Pre-K to 3rd Grade Kit Includes:

  • 🌱 Kid-friendly seed packets (easy-grow veggies & flowers)

  • 🧤 Mini gardening gloves

  • 🪣 Colorful garden tools (trowel, rake, watering can)

  • 📖 Garden-themed storybook

  • 🎨 Coloring pages & activity sheets

  • 🧩 Garden growth chart & sticker tracker

  • 🐞 Bug explorer magnifier for up-close nature exploration

  • ✨ “My First Garden” journal with drawing prompts

🌻 4th to 5th Grade Kit Includes:

  • 🌿 Advanced seed varieties (herbs, pollinator plants)

  • 🧪 DIY Garden Science kit (soil pH strips, compost starter)

  • 📘 Age-appropriate garden chapter book

  • 📓 Garden reflection & observation journal

  • 🔬 Plant parts diagram + microscope slide samples

  • 🧼 DIY natural product kit (lip balm, herbal sachet, or scrub)

  • 🎲 Garden trivia & eco-challenges

💻 Monthly Zoom Meeting – Garden & Grow Club LIVE!

Held: First Saturday of every month
Time: 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM EST
Platform: Zoom (secure access link emailed monthly)

🎥 What Happens in the Meeting:

  • 📚 Read-Aloud or Book Discussion 

  • 🌿 Show & Tell: Kids share plant progress or crafts

  • 🎨 Live mini-activity (ex: seed planting, journaling, drawing)

  • 🧠 Q&A with Garden Coach or guest expert (e.g., beekeeper, herbalist)

  • 🏅 “Green Thumbs of the Month” spotlight

Kids can attend solo, with a sibling, or alongside a parent. These sessions build community, confidence, and joy!

Why it Matters
Through gardening, kids build more than just plants—they grow confidence, independence, patience, and purpose. Our goal is to nurture a generation of thinkers, doers, and environmental stewards who know that they have the power to make something grow—starting with themselves.

🧠 Grow minds. 🌿 Grow food. 📚 Grow imaginations.