Arkansas just handed out its school garden trophies. The Arkansas Department of Agriculture and Farm Credit named eight winners of the 2026 Arkansas Grown School Garden of the Year Contest, with prizes of $1,000 or $500 per category. Carolyn Lewis Elementary in Conway took Best Overall School Garden, Wild About Learning Academy in Bentonville won the early childhood education award, Yellville-Summit Schools was named Champion of Garden Sustainability, and Glenview Elementary in North Little Rock earned Best Start-Up Garden (Arkansas Department of Agriculture).
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that when students grow food from seed to harvest, they learn to appreciate the work behind putting food on the table. Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward said hands-on growing helps students understand where their food comes from.
Here is the good news for homeschool families: you don't need a schoolyard or a grant to do the same thing at home. The judges looked for garden-based learning built into lessons, real use of what the garden produces, and a garden that lasts. A kitchen table seed lab this winter, followed by a backyard bed in spring, checks every one of those boxes.
What your kids will learn
Every great garden starts with a seed, and seeds are a science lesson all on their own. Comparing many kinds side by side turns "plant some seeds" into real biology.
Grades K–5
- Comparing seeds by size, shape and color
- The plant life cycle: seed, sprout, plant, flower, fruit and back to seed
- Sorting vegetables into groups we eat as roots, leaves or fruits
- Watching seeds germinate and recording what changes each day
Grades 6–12
- Seed anatomy and dormancy: why a seed can wait months before it sprouts
- Botanical classification: which vegetables belong to the same plant family
- Designing a germination trial and calculating germination rates
- Open pollination, heredity and why seed saving protects genetic diversity
This week's activity: the great seed race
This works with any seeds you have in the pantry or garage, and it runs on a countertop, so the cold weather doesn't matter.
- Pick your racers. Choose three to five different kinds of seeds, such as beans, lettuce, beets and pumpkin. Have kids predict which will sprout first and write it down.
- Count out 10 of each. Using the same number of seeds for every kind keeps the test fair and makes the math easy.
- Set up the beds. Dampen a paper towel for each kind (wet, not dripping), lay the 10 seeds on it, fold it over and slide it into a labeled zip-top bag.
- Keep conditions the same. Put all the bags in the same warm spot, away from direct heat. Same water, same place, same temperature: only the type of seed changes.
- Check every day. Open each bag gently and count how many seeds show a root. Younger kids can draw what they see; older kids record counts in a table.
- Do the math. After about 10 days, figure each germination rate. If 8 of 10 bean seeds sprouted, that is 80 percent. Graph the results and compare them with the predictions.
- Plant the winners. Move sprouted seeds into small pots of soil by a bright window and keep observing.
Want the whole race in one box? Our Heirloom Vegetable Seed Science Collection is our best seller for good reason. It comes with 30 individually packaged heirloom vegetable varieties, about 5,000 non-GMO, open-pollinated seeds in all, plus germination supplies and printed instructions. Varieties include Blue Lake Bush Beans, Detroit Red Beets, Green Sprouting Broccoli, Red Core Carrots, Mixed Green Lettuce, Long Standing Spinach, Sugar Pie Pumpkins and Roma Tomatoes. The grade-level curriculum (five lessons for K–5, six for 6–12) and student worksheets, including a seed comparison and sorting sheet and a germination trial data chart, are emailed to you after purchase.
With 30 varieties, the seed race can run all winter: a new set of racers every week, and plenty left over for the spring garden.
Ready to take it outside when the weather warms up? The Raised Garden Bed Plant Science Kit (6 × 3 × 1 ft) turns the backyard into an outdoor lab, where kids start seeds indoors, transplant them into their own raised bed and record how the plants grow from seed to harvest.
Join the growing community
Every purchase includes an invitation to Aardvark's Seed Planting For Little Hands, our private support group for families using our kits. Members share progress photos, ask questions, troubleshoot experiments and learn alongside other growers. Post your seed race results, see which varieties are winning for young gardeners from Conway to Bentonville, and compare notes with families in West Virginia and Arizona too.
Start your own garden of the year
Eight Arkansas schools showed what kids can do with seeds, soil and a plan. Your homeschool can start this week, right at the kitchen table.
- Heirloom Vegetable Seed Science Collection: $85.95, with curriculum and worksheets for Grades K–5 or 6–12
- Raised Garden Bed Plant Science Kit (6 × 3 × 1 ft): $94.99, for the spring garden
