Sprout & Spark

🌿A STEAM Nature & Art Journey for Homeschoolers🎨

For ages 5–13 | Weekly Sessions | In a Permaculture Food Forest & Garden

Let Salt Life Permaculture’s food forest be your living classroom in Sprout & Spark, a hands-on STEAM course designed for mixed-age homeschoolers who love to explore, create, and get their hands in the soil. Each session combines whole-group experiences with independent time in age-based cohorts(e.g., ages 5–7, 8–10, 11–13).

By the end of the course, learners will:

  • ✅ Understand key ecological relationships and permaculture principles

  • ✅ Develop foundational skills in observation, measurement, and experimentation

  • ✅ Gain confidence in creative expression through nature-based art

  • ✅ Build collaboration, leadership, and communication skills in mixed-age settings

  • ✅ Foster a lasting sense of curiosity, care, and connection to the natural world

Course Highlights

🪱 Learn how worms, bees, and roots work together underground

🌻 Paint with plant pigments, weave with natural fibers, and build ephemeral art

💧 Engineer mini rainwater catchment systems or habitat shelters

🥕 Harvest fresh garden snacks, explore seasonal cycles, and identify edible plants

🔍 Use microscopes, magnifiers, and journals to document discoveries like real scientists

🔨 Design and build age-appropriate eco-projects with natural and recycled materials

Program Structure

Each session combines whole-group experiences with independent time in age-based cohorts (e.g., ages 5–7, 8–10, 11–13).Older participants might engineer mini water systems, journal their observations like naturalists, or explore plant guilds and regenerative garden design, while younger children might build houses from twigs, paint in the food forest, or learn about compost critters up close.

Sample Weekly Schedule (3-Hour Session):

• Welcome Circle (15 min)

• Whole-Group Exploration & Demonstration (30 min)

• Age-Grouped STEAM Activities & Garden Lab (60–75 min)

• Snack Break & Nature Journaling (15–20 min)

• Creative Art or Engineering Build Time (45 min)

• Closing Circle & Sharing (15 min)