August 8th

By Mutt Mulligan

Teachers: take TurfMutt back to school with you!

It’s back to school season, and TurfMutt wants to remind all you teachers out there of the incredible educational resources available at TurfMutt.com. TurfMutt’s website is a treasure chest of environmental science activities for children in grades K-5.

The program, which is presented in collaboration with Scholastic, teaches students, their teachers and family backyard science, including how to take better care of the green spaces around them and the importance of living landscapes. The downloadable activity sheets make it easy for teachers to help kids learn how to save the planet one yard at a time.

For kids in grades K-2 for instance, there’s a lesson entitled Love Your Living Landscape. It helps kids learn how living landscapes benefit the environment where they live. Another lesson for this age group, How Grass Grows, teaches kids about how to grow heartier, healthier turfgrass and plants.

Older kids in grades 3-5 can learn how to create the right living landscape for their region with the lesson Local Living Landscapes. Extreme weather lessons are central to the cool activity Weather to the Max.

Teachers and parents will also want to keep an eye out on TurfMutt.com for announcements about the annual Be a Backyard Superhero Contest. Typically held in the spring, this contest offers students the opportunity to compete for a grant for a “green space makeover” at their school. Check out this year’s winning entries for inspiration!