Maria's Junior Master Gardener Terrarium

Junior Master Gardening is just one of the many generous and thoughtful after-school and extracurricular programs Maria participates in, this one thanks to Sage Garden. As an added bonus, the class is led by our family friend Karen S, and Maria takes this class with other friends she loves hanging out with... all this to say, Maria loves Junior Master Gardening! And I think she is loving it even more now that she's followed a project from her workbook: Making a Terrarium.

Her Junior Master Gardening book gave general suggestions and tips for assembling a little world, which inspired Maria to look further into the subject, using Pinterest.

Here's Maria's supply list:

A clear container, open or lidded, depending on the plants

Sand

Pebbles, and other decorative stones

Potting soil

Small plants, preferably ones that are happy indoors, or in an open terrarium: Succulents are a good choice.

Any little decorative pieces to create a scene or Fairy garden look.

After school Alex, Maria and I went to a local nursery and found glass stones, organic potting soil, a small fern and a tiny cyclamen. At home we had glass containers, sand, leftover pebbles from our aquarium, bark pieces, and our paper clay mushrooms... a fun addition! Using a couple of different tutorials, Maria settled on her plan for layering her sand, pebbles, and soil. She chose a plant suited to a closed terrarium, and had a good time putting everything together, especially affixing the mushrooms and wee gnome to their mossy twig. This morning she observed that her garden already has a water cycle starting, from the condensation in the jar. This simple and charming project was irresistible... so you can understand why I joined Maria in making a second terrarium! My fern is too big to be exactly contained in the glass jar, but I think it will be happy.

Maria would like to make mini-gingerbread houses with friends for her birthday, and I am going to surprise her with a second activity I think she and her friends will enjoy... planting mini-gardens, with more paper clay mushrooms and tiny succulents!