Sharing Love: A Loving Kindness Garden

What you need:

• Loving Kindness Garden worksheet
• Flower box
• Soil
• Flowers or flower seeds
• Wire or wooden popsicle stick
• Cardboard or small wooden sign
• Spade or small shovel
• Heart on a wire (optional)

What you do:

1. Ask your child, "When do you feel love? When have you given love? What is kindness?"
2. Ask, "What are some practices that you have learned that support loving kindness? How can you share loving kindness with others?"
3. Explain that they will be making a "Loving Kindness Garden" that represents all that they have learned about love, mindfulness, and caring for others in community.
4. Ask, "What goes into a garden?"
5. Show your child the flower box, soil, seeds, and other materials.
6. Complete the Loving Kindness Garden worksheet with your child.
7. Explain that they will be making a flower garden to then give to someone else.
8. Together with your child, fill your flower box with soil, leaving four inches of space from the top of your box.
9. Place your flowers on top of the soil. (You may also plant seeds in your soil, if you do not have flowers.)
10. Fill the space around the plants with soil. Pat down the loose soil.
11. Water your flowers or seeds.
12. Draw and cut out a 4” x 2” rectangle of the cardboard (or get your wooden sign instead).
13. Write "Loving Kindness Garden" on the rectangle.
14. Glue this sign to a popsicle stick or piece of wire.
15. Place your "Loving Kindness Garden" sign inside the soil in your flower box.
16. Place your heart decoration in the soil (optional).
17. Pause to look at the lovely flower box you have created together. Take a few deep breaths and place your hand on your heart.
18. Ask your child to imagine the person to whom they will give this flower box. Say, "Picture yourself giving them this flower box. In your mind, say to this person as you give them the box, 'May you be happy...may you be healthy...may you feel peace...may you feel loved.'"
19. Guide your child to take a few deep breaths, and then slowly open their eyes.
20. Support your child in scheduling to give the garden to someone. Share what you both learned and the garden with the rest of your family before you give it away.