Children begin learning well before they reach the classroom. They begin learning at home with their parents and therefore parents play a crucial role in kindergarten readiness. When parents are more involved with early childhood education and development, it is more likely that they will be involved in kindergarten and throughout a child’s school experience. Low-income families often face many barriers to providing early educational opportunities that are high-quality for their children. A wide achievement gap exists between children from low-income families and children from high-income families because of the difference in early educational opportunities. Over the past five years (2015-2020), Kentucky has reported that only 52% of children attending kindergarten (57.6% in Boone County) are actually prepared and equipped to succeed. In many Kentucky counties, limited resources or the environment may serve as barriers for healthy lifestyle choices related to early childhood development. 

As an innovative strategy to improve early childhood development skills and increase kindergarten readiness in Boone County residents, the Family and Consumer Sciences Agent partnered with the Boone County Public Library Florence location to implement a Fairy Gardens class. Fairy gardens are small container gardens that include both easy to maintain plants as well as figurines and other materials to create an imaginative indoor landscaped world. 

Through this program, participants work on improving early childhood development skills and increasing kindergarten readiness and parents work on learning active participation roles in early childhood learning experiences. The city of Florence is estimated to have a one percent higher rate of people living in poverty as compared to Boone County as a whole, which is why this location was selected for the program. There were 10 adults and 11 children who participated in this program. As a result, 100% reported increased knowledge on how to care for different plants including air plants and succulents. This program provided parents with the opportunity to spend one hour of uninterrupted time with their child on an educational activity. 

At the completion of the program, participants shared, “I want to thank you and all your colleagues for today’s event, it’s amazing ??.” Another shared, “It really was an amazing program!”