Whether you're a master gardener or a novice, growing your own vegetables is a great activity for the whole family. This growing season take advantage of the excellent opportunity to teach your child the responsibilities involved in the cultivating, growing, and harvesting process. Remember, vegetable gardens can come in all shapes and sizes. Whether you've got a large piece of land with multiple rows, a small strip of dirt at the edge of the yard, or just a few large planter pots with your favorite veggies growing, the harvest will be the same: A priceless experience for the children!

Planting seeds and watching them turn into tangible edible produce will leave a child with special positive memories. The repetition of planting, growing, harvesting and cooking with healthy foods provides an excellent foundation of knowledge in each child. When these practices are present in classrooms and schools, especially over multiple years, students are inspired to make positive health behavior changes. You can recruit your child to select the vegetable(s) to be grown and encourage them take ownership in the planting and growing chores. This gives children the opportunity to nurture and care for something, while at the same time providing a hands-on lesson of where food comes from. At the end of the growing season, the children will be able to pick their bountiful crop and turn it into yummy culinary creations, which they will be proud to share with friends and family.

On April 25, Coeur d'Alene School District's Nutrition Services will host a Garden Themed Lunch Meal for all the elementary students. The Lunch meal will feature Garden Ranch Pizza, fruits, veggies, milk, and chocolate pudding "Dirt Cups" for dessert. Also, thanks to Northwest Seed & Pet, each student will be given a pack of bean seeds to take home and plant. The School District's Nutrition Services would love to see pictures of the gardens that the children grow over the summer. At the end of the growing season we will showcase the garden themed pictures of the students with their crops on the Coeur d'Alene School District's website.

For more information about school lunch or the Garden Theme Meal visit www.cdaschools.org - Nutrition Service link or call (208) 667-7469.

Dr. SeAnne Safaii, Ph.D., RD, LD, is an assistant professor at the University of Idaho.