The resources, curriculum and grant opportunities below can help you bring gardening, food justice, nutrition and more to your classrooms. Nurture your green thumb and network with experts and other educators and students connecting to nature. Offerings range from Pre-K to adult education classes and workshops. Many of the curricula were developed to meet Common Core, Next Generation Standards and STEM.
Use the DPS Garden Calendar to plan ahead for spring and fall crops and harvest.
Denver Urban Gardens will help you learn the basics of gardening in Colorado as well tricks and tips for success. Denver Urban Gardens is rooted in a respect for the strength of diverse cultures and the unique talents they bring to horticulture. Its many community gardeners follow the principles of organic gardening, utilizing the age old techniques that provide optimum conditions for the growth of healthy soil, plants and people.
DUG’s Grow a Garden program reduces barriers to local fresh food by connecting individuals, families and community groups to seeds, seedlings and education to get growing at home or school in a DUG garden.
Big Green (K-12) has activities, lessons, professional development, toolkits and other resources available to Learning Garden teams. Take a break and try some of Big Green’s indoor activities for families.
CSU Extension – Providing trusted, practical education to help you solve problems, develop skills and build a better future. Learn best practices and search the database for tips from tree and plant care to keeping chickens, bees and goats to local insect pests and weeds.
Resource Central’s Garden In A Box program offers professionally designed, water-wise garden kits tailor-made for Colorado yards. These affordable, DIY gardens are super easy to use and will get your yard looking gorgeous and saving water in no time.
Denver Botanic Gardens has resources for pollinators and a database of thousands of plants from the collections.
Have a gardening question? We’ve got the answer! Contact Colorado Master Gardeners at gardeninghelp@botanicgardens.org. They can also answer any plant-related questions and offer ornamental or cultivated plant identification.
People and Pollinators We can only change the trajectory for pollinators (and our planet!) by making sure that people are aware of their importance and how we can protect them. It can be a complicated issue, but by working together we can find solutions that will help ensure that pollinators have safe and healthy habitat to keep our ecosystems and our agricultural systems working well.
The Edible Schoolyard Project feature lessons and resources for K-12. Search by grade or subject to find tested lessons for your classes.
Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Resources can help you get your garden up and going. Be sure to follow the DPS Garden Coalition Manual for more resources and to connect with DPS Sustainability for resources and support.
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is an alliance of grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities.
Please let DPS Sustainability know if you are applying for a grant below. We can help and we do not want to double apply within the district.
Healthy Food For Denver’s Kids Grant
Denver Community Active Coalition grant up to $1000 due April 1st annually.
Colorado Garden Foundation Letter of Intent due August 30th annually.
Great Outdoors Colorado Grant due mid-August annually.
Sprouts Neighborhood Grant opens April 1st, due June 1st annually.
National Garden Bureau Therapeutic Garden Grant due July 1st annually.
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education multiple grant opportunities due Oct-Nov annually.
Seed Money Grants for Garden Projects due early November.
KidsGardening.org has several grant opportunities small, multiple due dates.
HerbSociety.Org has annual $300 grants to start an herb garden for grades 3-6. Applications due October 1st.
Captain Planet Foundation has annual grants for gardens (Currently on hold due to Covid-19)
American Heart Association has annual grants for teaching gardens. Applications open each fall.
WildOnes.org Seeds for Education annual grant for native and sensory plants. Open July 15th – October 15th.
Whole Kids Foundation School Garden Grant due Feb. 15th annually.
Bonnie Cabbage Program has an annual contest for 3rd graders.
Little Seeds Pollinator Pals Grant due July 30th.
The Bee Cause grant open Sept. 1st – Oct. 15th.
Whole Kids Foundation Bee Grants for new and renewing hives Deadline Oct 15th.
DPS Foundation A-Z Grant due mid September annually.
National Science Foundation STEM technology grant due Oct. 1st annually.
Education First Grant due early February annually.
Albertsons / Safeway Foundation funding for projects.
Big Green offers Learning Garden curriculum options that focus on Food Literacy and Real Food Education.
Ready, Set, Grow! (K-8) supports the integration of Learning Gardens and food literacy programming. RSG! links garden-based, hands-on learning lessons to classroom-based learning extensions that target Next Generation Science, National Health Education, and Common Core English/Language arts standards and targets.
Real Food Lab (High School) is a curriculum and practicum program designed to bring participants into the world of socially responsible entrepreneurship through the lens of food.
Denver Urban Gardens Find great educator workshops, curriculum (K-8) and the Garden to Cafeteria and Youth Farm Stand programs in partnership with Denver Public Schools.
Slow Food Denver can bring cooking classes to your school or afterschool program. We offer courses in Cooking from the Garden and Youth Farm Stands in partnership with Denver Urban Gardens.
SustainEd Farms created sustainability lesson (K-8) plans featuring fun, hands-on activities that can be done at home with social distance in response to COVID!
Whole Kids Foundation has put together K-5 curriculum on Gardening and Botany, Nutrition, Consumer Education and Agriculture.
