We hear the expression 'fun learning' a lot but do we really stop and think about what goes into creating a successful and fun learning environment. Given the common concern of children being academically behind based on spring's school shut downs, virtual tutoring services are a wonderful solution to keep your kids on the right educational track. The one-on-one virtual experience can be extremely rewarding and also FUN! That's why we teamed up with Gardener Kiana Davis of Tutor Kids n' More. Her passion for tutoring and babysitting services are a shining example of how genuinely dedicated she is to fostering in the social and academic success of her clients. Kiana Davis -Owner & Founder of Tutor Kids n' More Kiana strongly believes in treating every child individually and making learning as fun as possible! She dedicates her time to nurturing one's own true passion for learning combined with an achievable goal setting process. Kiana's first virtual 30-45 minutes client consultation is free and she will also do in-person consultations on a case by case basis. To find out more about how Kiana can help your family CLICK HERE to visit her website. To watch Gardener Kiana's Camp Hello Gardeners® session CLICK HERE NOW! This camp session also features: Music class with Gardener Rachel, kid-friendly workouts with a certified fitness professional, inspirational stories, fun ways to fold napkins, how to make your own stress relieving bubbles, interactive games, DIY journals, mindfulness activities and more! TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CAMP HELLO GARDENERS CLICK HERE

Hello Gardeners! We are so thrilled to formally introduce you to our next #GuestGardener, Kelsey Jordan (formerly Kelsey DeLaney)! Where to begin? Kelsey and our author, Shanna, were friends long before You Are A Gardener® bloomed into what it is today. Kelsey's journey with #YouAreAGardener started with those beautiful illustrations you find throughout the book. She perfectly captured the spirit of our message portraying friendship, blooming gardens, and colorful spaces. If you haven't already, get a copy of your own today by following the link! Kelsey also happens to be the owner of KGD Films, a small business specializing in videography and social media/web/SEO services. So when #GardenerAnna wanted to make a web series that helped kids pull their weeds, Shanna immediately knew who to call, and #HelloGardeners was born! When we were no longer able to gather in our beloved greenhouse, Kelsey and Shanna put their heads together to figure out how to create video content. Here we are with #CampHelloGardeners! You can learn more about Kelsey and KGD Films by visiting her website and following her @kgdfilms. And last but not least, you can find Kelsey featured in Camp Hello Gardeners sharing fun drawing tips and 3 ways to transform your napkins into flowers! Be sure to sign up for Camp Hello Gardeners so you can unlock these fun segments along with so many more educational, sensory, gross motor, and creative activities! Sign up for Camp Hello Gardeners today! Thank you so much, Kelsey, for being a gardener from day 1! You Are A Gardener® could not have bloomed into the amazing and complex flower that it is today without the seeds you planted from the beginning.

Fred Rogers once said " Love is at the root of everything-all learning, all parenting, all relationships...love, or the lack of it." With things seeming so off balance lately maybe love has gotten a little lost along the way and maybe it's up to us to get it back on track. (Original Chalk Art by Gardener Anna) Research shows that people who are positive in their approach to others and to life in general are less likely to be stressed or anxious. Spreading more love (putting more positive energy out there) not only helps your own mental well being but it can also positively effect others too. The more you engage with spreading love to others, the more they will be inclined to do the same. I have always been an upholder of the expression 'lead by example", so today I have come up with a list of things our family is doing to help spread some love and do our part to make our world a brighter and more peaceful place. Send Someone A Letter: The art of writing a letter to someone is a form of communication that hopefully will never be lost. It is a beautiful and often unexpected gesture that touches the recipients heart and lets them know they are in your daily thoughts. Letting friends & family how know how much you appreciate them in a written letter helps you count your blessings and confirms the importance of a relationship. It is also a wonderful skill to pass on to younger gardeners who are more comfortable with electronic communication. Want to learn how to address and send a letter from Gardener Anna? Follow the link to sign up for #CampHelloGardeners Session 1! Special Delivery: Make up a special treat bag for someone for a surprise pick-me-up. Celebrations are always a wonderful reminder to treat someone but sometimes it's fun to put together an unexpected gift for an unexpected reason. We happen to love making self-care packages as a reminder to take time out for yourself! To find out more about a special delivery Anna received...Click Here! Kindness From Your Kitchen: Show someone you care by mixing up a little kindness from your kitchen and when you double the batch you double the love you can spread. Bake some cookies for your friend, make a meal for an elderly neighbor or even fix up a picnic basket for a working mom working from home. Cooking has always been a beautiful form of self expression and is a wonderful thing to share with family and friends. Getting the whole family involved is also a beautiful way to introduce young kids to help spreading some love. For a quick, easy and tasty breakfast cookie recipe from Gardner Aidan...Click Here! Pay Someone A Compliment: Compliments can go viral....literally I have seen it happen. From paying a compliment to a stranger in line at the store, stopping someone on the street to say you like their shoes or even just smiling at a stranger is a positive output that is most likely to be paid forward! Finding something to compliment someone on also sparks creativity and encourages you to look at someone from a positive point of view. There are so many ways to spread love through random acts of kindness. What are some of your favorite ways? Send us an email to flowers@youareagardener.com #SpreadTheLove

Hello Gardeners! We are always on the lookout for recipes that support a healthy lifestyle, are fun + simple, and accessible to gardeners of all ages. Cooking and preparing food is such a wonderful way to teach young gardeners life skills, learn about food science, explore creativity, and gain responsibility. Today on the blog, we are making chocolate-dipped Peanut Butter Pretzels. This salty, sweet treat is sure to put a smile on your face.’ Here is what you’ll need: Pretzels (we recommend the grid-shaped ones) Peanut butter (sub sunbutter for allergies!) Dark chocolate chips We are essentially making peanut butter sandwiches, but subbing bread for pretzels. Spread a small dollop of peanut butter on one pretzel and place another on top. Next, melt your chocolate chips, then dip one side of each pretzel sandwich in the chocolatey goodness. Place the dipped pretzels on a plate or parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes or until chocolate and peanut butter harden up a bit. This activity is #PullYourWeedsApproved because it’s: A healthy, snacking option! Okay, yes, a plate of fresh veggies is better, but if you are craving a sweet treat, this has protein and antioxidants. A fun #STEM lesson! What’s better than learning about #ReversibleChange and melted chocolate? Supportive of all ages and abilities. This #NoBake treat requires minimal supervision! Thanks for snacking with us, gardeners. Be sure to let us know what you think by commenting below, tagging us @youareagardener, or emailing flowers@youareagardener.com.

The other day I overheard Anna talking to her Grandma how she was worried if she would be able to wear a mask all day at school when she goes back. Hmmm...this sounded familiar. In my post last week “I took my own advice”, I mentioned how I was “worried” about my kids wearing masks all day at school. In times of stress and uncertainty, our kids look to us to gauge how they should feel. Our output creates the foundation for their confidence in uncomfortable situations. Clearly, this is an example of how I initially did not embrace this myself and my kids were adapting the same outlook. Since then I have made a consistent effort to speak more openly and optimistically about wearing mask all day in school in front of Anna and Aidan. We talk about how a mask provides kids the protection needed to see their friends, meet their teachers and safely go back to an environment that they have always enjoyed. It is a strong and brave act that not only keeps them safe but helps keep others safe too! Wherever our kids are headed this fall, their bravery to embrace such rapid change is a heroic act in my eyes. Let’s take a minute and give these kids the accolades and praise they deserve for rising up to this new school year. They are the gardeners planting seeds to ensure a brighter future for us all. Let’s take a moment and be grateful for their efforts! If you have an inspiring back to school story and you would like to share with our community please send an email to flowers@youareagardener.com. Stay bright! Shanna Truffini Click Here to Purchase Your Signed Copy

It's the dog days of summer...it's hot and you are looking for a cool craft to keep your kids off a device and engaged in positive play! Sensory activities that involve ice are a wonderful way to chill out on and beat the heat. Some of the best learning happens when kids get hands on and create! This tactile, icy activity engages the senses and creates a beautiful finished product. Pouring the liquid in the ice tray is a wonderful way to develop confidence and coordination skills. This artistic process of ice painting is rooted in creative expression that encourages emotional exploration as well as scientific thinking. To learn how to make ice paint with Gardener Anna & Gardener Aidan on Session 4 of Camp Hello Gardeners® CLICK HERE! This 30 minute video session also features: Learn all about improv from an actor, make your own picture frame with a local artist, easy & creative recipes, art class with our illustrator, inspirational stories, interactive games, mindfulness activities & more fun!

All kids have stress, that's just a natural fact but these days that seems to be on the rise. With the uncertainty of what back to school looks like, things feeling out of control and familiar routines being disrupted, young kids have more emotional weight to carry than usual. Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process in which children and adults learn skills /tools to effectively identify, communicate and manage their emotions in a positive way. This empowers one with responsible decision making, empathy awareness, positive relationships, strong communication skills, goal setting/achieving, self appreciation, self awareness and so much more. In times of stress and uncertainty one can never have enough SEL skills/tools. Educating and empowering children with strong SEL roots can be easy and fun...so much that they may not even be aware of the long term positive benefits they are acquiring. The more tools they have in their 'emotional toolbox' the more prepared they will be when they encounter uncomfortable feelings and big emotions. Examples of SEL activities include: yoga, cooking, music, art, meditation, games, sensory play and more. Each session of Camp Hello Gardeners® features 10+ activities all rooted in SEL practices and delivered in a fun, bright and uplifting 30 minute video series. Click Here to Learn More! The lifetime benefits of social and emotional learning are immeasurable. Giving our children the gift of knowing they have the power to control the way the feel and the tools to help them get there can lead to a much brighter tomorrow. According to research a consistent approach to SEL at home and in the classroom offers the following: academic success, fewer behavioral problems, positive social relationships, stronger problem solving skills and overall feeling of self confidence. Our gardening team is here to help you implement fun and easy social/emotional learning skills at home: The You Are a Gardener® children's book Camp Hello Gardeners® SEL programs for elementary teachers & students Hello Gardeners® Videos The #PullYOurWeeds Blog @youareagardener

Hello Gardeners! Camp Hello Gardeners® is in full bloom and we are having so much fun spreading seeds and connecting with 'gardeners' all across the country! Every camp session features 3-4 'Guest Gardeners' that include amazing educators, inspiring entrepreneurs, and strong #SEL advocates. Today, we are introducing a very special gardener friend, Anne Grossman, owner and founder of Rebel Daughter Cookies. Rebel Daughter Cookies in Wilton, CT was born out of the hunt to create the perfect chocolate chip cookie and blossomed into a business that ships nationwide, supports organizations that benefit women and children, and reminds us to indulge in ourselves every now and then! On Rebel Daughter's website it says, "We rebel against the idea that hard = impossible," and here at #YouAreAGardener, we could not agree more! As you may know, #GardenerAnna describes baking as one of her biggest 'flowers', so we thought it was important to feature a baker who believes in planting seeds for a brighter tomorrow. Cooking, baking and creating in the kitchen is a wonderful way to keep kids focused, active and is also an excellent confidence builder! Thank you, Anne, for being such a positive (and sweet) role model!! To sign up for Anne's session on Camp Hello Gardeners® Click Here! Be a Rebel, Eat a Cookie: Click Here You may recognize Gardener Anne from one of this season's Hello Gardeners episode. Check it out below 👇 👇 👇 You can find Gardener Anne and her son Jack in Session 1 of Camp Hello Gardeners® where she teaches us her top secret recipe on how to make your own glitter dough, a fun sensory activity that the whole family can enjoy! Sign up for Session 1-4 | Camp Hello Gardeners here If you would like to learn more about Anne and Rebel Daughter Cookies, please visit her website here, follow @rebeldaughtercookies, or be a rebel and treat yourself by to a box! Thanks for reading gardeners and don't forget to #PullYourWeeds and #PlantYourSeed...you are a gardener!

Hello Gardeners! We are so excited to introduce you to our next #GuestGardener featured on Session 4 of Camp Hello Gardeners®. Will Dennis is a professional actor who teamed up with his wife, Danielle, to start Unscripted Productions. Unscripted Productions is a company that teaches the art of improv to students of all ages. Improv is built on the word “yes” - teaching us to collaborate, accept, support, communicate, and innovate. According to medium.com "The process of brain-to-brain and social-emotional interaction makes improvisation training uniquely effective for strengthening the capacity to cope with uncertainty, manage anxiety and boost the creative thinking that is so essential to navigating an increasingly complex world." This is another excellent example of how the benefits of improv can be a wonderful tool for children to add to their social/emotional learning toolbox. We love Unscripted Productions’ culture of "yes" in a world of "no" and how activities like improv instill confidence and create judgment-free zones! Gardener Will talks through some of the very meaningful connections between improv and 'gardening' and he consistently pushes forward the idea that improv is all about love an acceptance. Thank you so much Will and Danielle for spreading seeds of love, acceptance, confidence, and silliness through improv! Say "YES" to Unscripted Productions: Click here Sign up for Will's session of Camp Hello Gardeners® here, in this 30 minute camp video kids will also learn how to make your own picture frame with a local artist, easy & creative cracker recipes, art class with our illustrator, how to make ice paint, hear inspirational stories, interactive games and more! Sign up for Session 1-4 | Camp Hello Gardeners here Follow @unscriptedproductions on Instagram and be sure to let us know what you think of Gardener Will's segment in the comments below 👇 #LeadWithLove, #PullYourWeeds, and #PlantYourSeed - YOU are a gardener

Hello Gardeners! You've seen her featured in Hello Gardeners, on our blog post Get Moving, and now on Camp Hello Gardeners - meet, Julia Hickman AKA The Petite Fastinista! Julia has made it her mission to help busy women stay motivated and inspired to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Julia recently interviewed our author, Shanna Truffini, alongside #GardenerAnna and #GardenerAidan. We talked about the origins of You Are A Gardener and how to deal with stress and anxiety in this new and uncertain reality. Check out The Petite Fastinista's Facebook page to see more interviews with female entrepreneurs working to make the world a little bit brighter. Watch our interview below 👇👇 For motivational content, follow @thepetitefastinista There is still time to enroll your gardeners in Camp Hello Gardeners! Whether you want to sign up for 1 session or all 4, we are here for you! https://www.youareagardener.com/camp-hello-gardeners Thank you Gardener Julia for inspiring us to get moving! #TheFutureIsBright #PullYourWeeds #CampHelloGardeners

I don’t know about you, but our family’s eating habits have definitely been turned upside down over the last few months. From sweet summer treats to supporting local restaurants with takeout orders...getting back to better routines is definitely taking top priority around here. Mixing in new and nutritional recipes is a fun way to gradually make the change to a healthier a lifestyle. I recently introduced the kids to chia pudding. It is super easy to make and better yet you can make it ahead of time for a quick breakfast/snack option during the school week. Breakfast has always been the meal I struggle with the most during the school year. (I see hearts all the time in my food ...can you spot it in my photo?!) Getting something healthy, tasty and pleasing to all pallets can definitely be a challenge. This super yummy pudding recipe ticks all the boxes for a winning a breakfast combo with the added bonus that chia is high in protein, fiber, omega 3 fatty acids and loaded with antioxidants. Kids also love to choose their own toppings which keeps this recipe versatile and fun. Enjoy! This chia pudding recipe serves about 4-6 and is best to let it set overnight in the fridge but can be enjoyed 1-2 hours after refrigeration. It will last up t0 3-4 days in the fridge too. What quick, tasty and healthy breakfasts do you like to make? Send us an email to flowers@youareagardener.com Chia Later! Shanna (For Another Kid Friendly Recipe Click this Link --> https://www.youareagardener.com/post/cooking-with-gardener-aidan-pizza-edition)

A few weeks ago I kept waking up around 3:30 in the morning with a flood of worries running through my head…should we send the kids to school or keep them home, will they will be ok wearing masks that long, are we drinking enough water, how much screen time did the kids have today…it went on and on. After about 4 or 5 nights of this, it occurred to me that I needed to take my own advice...I had to get back in my garden and “pull some weeds”! The roots of my You Are a Gardener® program are all about positive communication and talking about your negative, feelings, thoughts and emotions with someone you trust like a parent, friend, sibling, family member or a teacher. But, sometimes when you find yourself constantly ‘watering your weeds’ more than your flowers (paying more attention to your negative thoughts instead of your positive thoughts), it may be time to reach out and connect with a certified professional. I have been seeing someone consistently for almost 3 years now and check in about once a month. Given the whirlwind of events over the last several months I was not checking in on a regular basis. These ‘wake ups’ I was having were a real sign that I needed some outside support. Mental wellness takes a lot of energy and focus. Paying attention to the thoughts that are running through our minds is a good indication to where our energy is flowing and if we need some redirection. “According to the National Science Foundation, an average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those, 80% are negative and 95% are repetitive thoughts. If we repeat those negative thoughts, we think negative way more than we think positive thoughts.” This is the same with children, being proactive with their mental well-being requires a lot of dedication and attention. Getting kids to talk about their negative feelings and emotions is just as important as empowering them with the tools to recognize when something is bothering them. No matter your age, ‘gardening’ is a constant process full of weeding, watering, planting and appreciating. The more positive attention we give our gardens, the more we will be rewarded with the fruits of our labor. “Choose to feel joy to create blossoms so bright. You are a Gardener.” ~Shanna Truffini To learn how to start gardening at home with your kids watch our Gardening 101 video with #GardenerAnna by CLICKING HERE --> Gardening 101