Arkansas just handed out $6,000 to eight school gardens. The Arkansas Department of Agriculture announced the 2026 Arkansas Grown School Garden of the Year winners, with Carolyn Lewis Elementary in Conway taking Best Overall School Garden. Little Rock Christian Academy won Best Education-Based Garden, Wild About Learning Academy in Bentonville won the early childhood award, and Yellville-Summit Schools was named Champion of Garden Sustainability.
Here's the part homeschool families will love. The judges scored every garden on five things: clear goals, garden-based learning built into the curriculum, community involvement, how the harvest gets used, and whether the garden can keep going year after year. That's a ready-made checklist for any family that wants a garden that teaches.
You don't need a school grant to use it. You need a kitchen table, a few seeds and a curious kid.
What your kids will learn
Planning and testing a garden covers a surprising amount of life science, math and real-world problem solving.
Grades K–5
- Compare seeds by size, shape and color
- The plant life cycle: seed, sprout, plant, flower, fruit, seed
- Sort vegetables into groups: roots, leaves and fruits
- Observe and record how different seeds germinate
Grades 6–12
- Design a germination trial and calculate germination rates
- Classify vegetables by botanical family
- Open pollination, heirloom genetics and how traits are inherited
- Seed saving and why genetic diversity matters in agriculture
This week's activity: the judges' checklist and a seed trial
Split this into two parts: a planning session and a hands-on experiment you can start today.
Part 1: Plan like a prize-winning garden
- Set one goal. Ask each child: what do we want our garden to teach us, or give us? ("Grow our own salad." "Find out which seeds sprout fastest.")
- Tie it to lessons. List one subject the garden can feed: measuring for math, journaling for writing, life cycles for science.
- Think community. Who could you share with or learn from? Grandparents, a co-op, a neighbor who gardens.
- Plan the harvest. Pick one family recipe you'd love to make with something you grow.
- Make it last. Talk about saving seeds from this year's plants to grow again next year.
Part 2: The kitchen-table germination trial
- Choose three or four kinds of vegetable seeds you have on hand, such as beans, beets, lettuce or pumpkin.
- Count out 10 seeds of each kind. Ten makes the math easy: every seed that sprouts is 10%.
- Fold each group into its own damp paper towel, slide it into a labeled zip-top bag and keep the bags somewhere warm.
- Have kids predict which seed will sprout first, and write the prediction down.
- Check every day. Record how many seeds in each bag have a root poking out.
- After about a week, calculate each seed's germination rate and draw a bar graph.
- Talk it over: which seeds would you trust most in your spring garden, and why?
Want a lot more seeds to test, and lessons already written? Our Heirloom Vegetable Seed Science Collection turns this trial into a full unit. It includes 30 individually packaged heirloom varieties (about 5,000 non-GMO, open-pollinated seeds), germination supplies and printed instructions, plus grade-level curriculum and student worksheets emailed after purchase. Varieties include Blue Lake Bush Beans, Detroit Red Beets, Green Sprouting Broccoli, Sugar Pie Pumpkins, Roma Tomatoes and more, and the worksheets include a seed sorting sheet and a germination trial data chart.
Short winter days can make seedlings tall and floppy. If you'd like to grow your sprouts indoors through the cold months, the LED Grow Light Plant Stand Science Kit gives you a two-shelf stand with two full-spectrum LED light bars and its own curriculum on photosynthesis and light experiments. (Each shelf holds one standard 10×20 tray; trays are sold separately, and assembly is required.)
Join the growing community
Every purchase includes an invitation to Aardvark's Seed Planting For Little Hands, our private support group for students and families using our kits. Members share progress photos, ask questions, troubleshoot experiments and learn alongside other growers. Post your germination graph, show off your garden plan, and see what young growers in West Virginia, Arizona and across Arkansas are sprouting this week.
Start your homeschool garden plan today
Arkansas schools just showed what a garden can teach. Your family can start the same way, one seed trial at a time:
- Heirloom Vegetable Seed Science Collection – 30 Varieties, 5,000+ Seeds, with Curriculum & Worksheets: $85.95. Choose Grades K–5 or 6–12.
- LED Grow Light Plant Stand Science Kit – Start Seeds & Microgreens Indoors on Two Lighted Shelves, with Curriculum & Worksheets: $200.00. Choose Grades K–5 or 6–12.
