MINDEMOYA – Central Manitoulin Public School (CMPS) students from Kindergarten to Grade 8 planted flower bulbs in their school’s no-mow zone on October 8. The 400 flower bulbs were provided free of charge by Bulbs4Kids, a program that allows the students to become familiar with flower bulbs and the world of nature in way that is also a lot of fun.
When the tulips, crocuses, daffodils and grape hyacinths start blooming early in the spring, the school’s existing no-mow zone and front beds will be bursting with color.
Robin Duncanson, a Grade 2 teacher at CMPS signed up last spring to receive a flower bulb kit. Her Grade 2 class is one of 150 classes in Canada, 450 classes in the Netherlands, 800 classes in Germany, 400 classes in England, 350 classes in France and 100 classes in Sweden who will be studying the bulbs as they grow and change throughout the seasons. Every student at school on Friday partnered with a buddy from another grade to plant the 400 bulbs.
“They got them in the soil just in time for the rain!” noted Ms. Duncanson. More than 1.3 million flower bulbs will be planted in school gardens through this program.
More and more studies are confirming the beneficial effects that the natural world has on our health, said a press release accompanying the bulbs. Playing in a natural environment and having hands-on experiences with plants contributes to the healthy balanced development of children. It makes children smarter, fitter and more creative.
The problem, notes the release, is that urbanization has meant that the distance between people and natural environments has never been greater. This is why Bulbs4Kids decided to offer 150 free Bulbs4Kids kits to Canadian elementary schools; together with the class, a Bulbs4Kids kit helps these children discover flower bulbs. This program was initiated by iBulb and involves making 2,250 flower bulb kits available to Canadian, Dutch, German, French, English and Swedish elementary schools.
Bulbs4Kids is an initiative of iBulb, the promotional organization of Royal Anthos. Royal Anthos is a trade association for nursery stock and flower bulbs based in the Netherlands. iBulb promotes the use of flower bulbs, bulb flowers and bulbs in pots by means of worldwide PR activities and advertising campaigns.
