Hello Gardeners! So far, this summer has been the summer for small gestures - we find ourselves writing more notes, saying "thank you" more regularly, and helping each other out! We know #GardenerAnna has been keeping up with penpals by writing letters, while #GardenerAidan has been sharing smiles and laughter over video chat. What are the little things you've been doing to stay connected this summer? Want to learn how to address and send a letter from Gardener Anna? Follow the link to sign up for #CampHelloGardeners Session 1! Today, we are sharing a craft that can be done just for fun OR a craft that makes a thoughtful gift for someone you love! It's the perfect way to revamp your cans - plus, you know we love an upcycle craft! Here is what you'll need: 1 can (soup cans or tomato sauce cans work wonderfully for this craft!) Paper Paper plate Paint Scissors Tape First, you are going to flip your plate over (we are using the bottom) and place a few dabs of paint on the base. Next, have your gardeners use their fingers to swirl the paint, just enough to give it that marbled feel. Then, flip your plate over on top of your blank sheet of paper so that the paint transfers. Do this a few times until your paper is mostly covered! Let your painted paper dry and the measure a strip to wrap around your can. Apply pieces of tape to secure and voilà! There you have it, a revamped, recycled planter! This craft is #PullYourWeedsApproved because it: Encourages resourcefulness! We love to reduce, reuse, recycle whenever possible ♻️ Helps practice active listening. By asking gardeners to only mix the paint a certain amount, you are helping them strengthen those #SELskills! Promotes sensory exposure. We love giving gardeners the opportunity to explore different textures, temperatures, viscosities, etc. Let us know in the comments below how you are staying connected at home! Keep spreading those seeds of love and positivity 🌱💚

Hello Gardeners! We have been trying to stay as cool as possible in this heat, which means limiting our time outside. We've been thinking up creative and fun crafts that require minimal materials and can be easily transferred inside or out! If you are looking to beat the heat, try out some of these indoor/outdoor crafts for kids and let us know what you think: Colorful Crayon Etching Paper Plate Woven Baskets Flower Pancakes Mason Jar Terrariums Handprint Bouquets Today on the blog, we have a fun activity that combines our curiosities for art and science in one colorful craft. We are combining a smashed flowers painting with a chlorophyll rubbing to create a natural, abstract painting! Here is what you'll need: A hammer Flowers (ideally of various colors) Greens (weeds, leaves, grass, etc) White paper There really aren't many steps for this craft - it's all about exploring ways to transfer the color from the flowers and the greens onto your paper. Whether you smash, rub, roll, or scrape . . . . . . you end up with a beautiful painting! This craft is #PullYourWeedsApproved because it: explores the relationship between science and art encourages kids to explore outdoors strengthens those creative, decision-making skills (arrangement, color, shape, texture) We hope you have fun exploring color in nature! Show us your plant paintings by emailing flowers@youareagardener.com or tagging @youareagardener! Keep your gardens watered and #StayCool!

Hello Gardeners! With all the uncertainty of the upcoming school year todays’s craft is a reminder of how important the #PullYourWeeds message is. Encouraging kids to talk about their stresses and fears is needed now more than ever. From worrying about wearing a mask all day, not seeing friends or being afraid of getting sick, there are many ‘weeds’ young gardeners are facing. Mindfulness activities & crafts are great way to get kids to relax and open up about how they are feeling. We are so excited to share today's craft with you because it emphasizes this message ☝️! We are making crayon etchings - all you need is: A small piece of paper Crayons (definitely a black crayon!) Something with a pointed edge (toothpick, pencil) Let's get started! Cover your entire sheet of paper in crayon - choose rainbow, or color in small swatches of color - just make sure the entire sheet is covered! we went with rainbow : ) 🍭 Once your entire sheet of paper is colored, take you black crayon and blacken the entire sheet of paper. You should end up with a black piece of paper! Then take your pointed utensil an etch (or scratch) the black surface to reveal all the beautiful colors beneath! This activity is #PullYourWeedsApproved because it: Requires few materials! All you need are crayons and paper! Encourages gardeners to think ahead - this craft is all about layers! Will keep your gardeners occupied! Once they reveal the magic base layer, they will surely want to make another and another! Thanks for reading along today, gardeners! Keep pulling those weeds and planting those seeds - #TheFutureIsBright ✨!

The first time I saw the summer home of the late Fred Rogers in Madaket, Nantucket, I felt such a strong connection to this pied-à-terre. I could imagine Fred and his wife Joanne sitting with their toes in the sand and watching the sun set on the Madaket Harbor. I often wonder what beautiful ideas he came up with here and the inspirational stories he would share with his family and neighbors. We all have different gifts, so we all have different ways of saying to the world who we are. ~Fred Rogers🌸 To put our feet in the sand and take in the same beautiful views that Mr. Rogers did when he summered here with his family is truly an exceptional moment for us. Our annual photo in front of Mister Rogers’ Nantucket home aka The Crooked House, has become one of our favorite family traditions that began the first summer You Are a Gardener® was published. It is a beautiful reminder of how much our program has grown over the last couple of years, as well as a measure of how much these two gardeners have grown too! Photos in order 2020, 2019,2018 The seeds Fred Rogers planted for social and emotional education are so deeply rooted in the message of our You Are a Gardener® children’s book and all of the programs we create. Rogers once said, “anyone who does anything to help a child in their life is a hero to me. " To think that we could be a hero in Fred Rogers' eyes is one of the reasons why we keep coming back to this beautiful place to pause and reflect on how we can continue to help do our part to make the future a brighter place for this younger generation. To learn more about our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) videos and children's programs CLICK HERE. “It’s not so much what we have in this life that matters. It’s what we do with what we have.” ~Fred Rogers

Hello Gardeners! Does your garden need a little color these days? How do you brighten up your day? Do you bake something sweet - or explore the outdoors? Today, we are brightening up our day with a sunny & cheerful craft, our Handprint Sunflowers! These sunflowers are great to make with your younger gardeners and we recommend making a bunch so you can create a beautiful sunflower garden - guaranteed to brighten your day! Here is what you will need: Paper Yellow & black paint (make sure it is skin safe!) Pencil Old yogurt container (or something similar to trace) First, you are going to take your yogurt container or other circular recyclable, and lightly trace a circle in the center of your paper. Paint your gardener's hand with the yellow paint and have him or her make handprints all around that traced circle. Next, dip the eraser side of your pencil into the black paint to fill in your circle with black dots. Let your piece dry and then display for all to see! This craft is #PullYourWeedsApproved because it: Strengthens fine motor skills Promotes sensory exposure Is a great activity to for young gardeners Thanks for reading along with us today! Send us your sunflowers 🌻!! Tag @youaragardener or email flowers@youareagardener.com. Stay sunny, gardeners!

Can we make a donation to your school, charity or organization? Camp Hello Gardeners® is teaming up with local schools and charities and donating 10% back of all their communities sales to their group. In efforts to make it easy for you, all you have to do is send us an email with your school or groups name and upon approval we will send you personalized marketing materials with an exclusive promo code to share with your group. It's as easy as 1,2,3! EMAIL US TO GET STARTED: flowers@youareagardener.com

Welcome To Camp Hello Gardeners® A series of pre-recorded videos where kids will feel like they are actually at camp! Shanna Truffini, author of You Are a Gardener® and creator of the hit video series Hello Gardeners® has just launched Camp Hello Gardeners®, an online camp for kids ages 4-12. With a lot of families choosing to be safe at home this summer and camps being closed or at limited capacity, Truffini wanted to bring camp right to your own living room. Each camp session features a 25-30 minute, pre-recorded video with Truffini and her young children as camp counselors. Each video features 7-10 fun-filled activities to keep kids active, engaged and learning new skills. Activities include: arts and crafts, kid-friendly workouts, life skills, sensory activities, fun & games, mindfulness exercises, inspiring stories, music, imagination exploration, what's cooking & more! The $55 camp package includes private access to 4 pre-recorded camp videos. Each session comes with a guide highlighting the activities and the materials campers will need. Anyone, anywhere can sign up at anytime and will have unlimited access to the Camp Hello Gardeners® videos. Visit www.youareagardener.com/camp-hello-gardeners to sign up today.

This book right here has sprouted big time 😎 When I planted this seed not even 3 years ago it was in efforts to help Anna (when she was 7) manage her enormously big emotions that were causing her to ‘water her weeds’ instead of her flowers. When we stared to ‘garden’ everyday and “pull our weeds” (talking about her negative feelings and encounters) Anna started to brighten. She felt empowered with the conversations and positive solutions on how to address her emotions. This was why I chose to self-publish You Are a Gardener. I knew if it could help our family then why not share it with others. Everything we do, all the content we create, the programs we build are all rooted in raising a new generation of emotionally empowered kids. Camp Hello Gardeners is our newest adventure to (virtually) reach out and connect with kids and delight them with positive content to encourage them to learn new skills, stay active and most importantly have fun! Joyful content and positive screen time for kids is needed now more than ever. Camp Hello Gardeners® is a series of pre-recorded videos that feel like you are actually at camp. Kids ages 4-12 will enjoy a variety of activities & learn new skills to keep them active and engaged all summer long! Featuring Gardener Anna & Gardener Aidan from the hit video series Hello Gardeners 🌼 Sign up today and let's grow!

6/15/2020 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Shanna Truffini Email: flowers@youareagardener.com Welcome To Camp Hello Gardeners® A series of pre-recorded videos where kids will feel like they are actually at camp! Morristown, NJ, June 2020- Shanna Truffini, author of You Are a Gardener® and creator of the hit video series Hello Gardeners® has just launched Camp Hello Gardeners®, an online camp for kids ages 4-12. With a lot of families choosing to be safe at home this summer and camps being closed or at limited capacity, Truffini wanted to bring camp right to your own living room. Each camp session features a 25-30 minute, pre-recorded video with Truffini and her young children as camp counselors. Each video features 7-10 fun-filled activities to keep kids active, engaged and learning new skills. Activities include: arts and crafts, kid-friendly workouts, life skills, sensory activities, fun & games, mindfulness exercises, inspiring stories, music, imagination exploration, what's cooking & more! The $55 camp package includes private access to 4 pre-recorded camp videos. Each session comes with a guide highlighting the activities and the materials campers will need. Anyone, anywhere can sign up at anytime and will have unlimited access to the Camp Hello Gardeners® videos. Visit www.youareagardener.com/camp-hello-gardeners to sign up today. ### If you would like more information about Camp Hello Gardeners® or any of the You Are a Gardener programs please contact Shanna Truffini at flowers@youareagardener.com.

We have been keeping a HUGE secret and today is the day we get to share the news 🎉 We are so excited to announce our newest adventure... Camp Hello Gardeners!!! Featuring Gardener Anna & Gardener Aidan and lots of amazing gardener friends! Camp Hello Gardeners is a safe, kid-positive, virtual environment to learn, grow and create! Kids will enjoy a variety of fun filled activities from yoga to qi gong, music to arts & crafts, wellness tips to life skills. Our camp package includes private access to 4 individual, prerecorded video sessions that air once a week featuring interactive, independent and supervised activities for kids to enjoy! Plus, if you pre-register now you will receive a bonus digital activity kit full of puzzles, games and coloring pages! (Recommended for kids ages 4-12) With summer camps being cancelled or at limited capacity and families choosing to be safe at home, let us bring camp to you! Camp starts on June 15th but you can PRE-REGISTER NOW by clicking this link: https://www.youareagardener.com/camp-hello-gardeners Let’s Grow! 🔆⛺️🌸😎

Hello Gardeners! On the blog today, we've got an amazing focus activity to help redirect those restless gardeners! We love this activity because the repetitive motions of weaving mixed with the soft sensation of the yarn makes for the perfect relaxing activity! It's our Woven Bowl Craft - and all you'll need are 3 simple things: A paper plate Scissors Yarn First things first, cut up your plate! I wanted a medium sized bowl, so my cuts were a couple inches long, but if you'd prefer a taller, thinner bowl, make your cuts longer, and for a shallower bowl, make them shorter! I found that drawing a circle in the center of your plate helps make all of your cuts consistent! Next, wrap your yarn around the base of one of your strips and secure it with a knot. Then start weaving through the strips of the plate using the 'over-under-over-under' pattern. If you want to switch colors, tie (with a double knot) your new string to the old string and just continue weaving! You can kind of tuck the knotted part under the weave to conceal it. You may find that you need to trim down the thickness of your strips as they are starting to overlap - just go through and carefully trim with your scissors! Once you reach the top of your plate, it's time to tie the end of the string so that the bowl doesn't unravel. Just loop the loose end of the string through one of the previous weaves and secure with a knot. If you need to trim down the top of your plate, do so carefully so you don't accidentally cut any of the woven string! There there you have it! A beautiful woven bowl, perfect for storing small toys, school supplies, putting under a plant, or for any other use you can find! This craft is #PullYourWeedsApproved because it: requires focus! Set up your gardener with these materials, walk them through the process, and in no time they will be completely consumed by this craft!! helps practice pattern. Whether it's the 'over-under' pattern or following a color pattern of there choice, there are lots of ways to challenge your gardener's pattern following skills! relieves stress. The repetitive motions of weaving mixed with the soft sensation of the yarn make for the perfect relaxing activity! can be done anywhere. Take this in the car, bring it outside, pull it out at holidays - the materials are so easy to travel with, this craft can really help out in those moments where the kids need something to occupy their time! We recently came across this quote by Mary Davis and wanted to share it with you! Show yourself love and compassion and you'll find you have more love and compassion to share with others! If you find you've been a little tough with yourself recently, do this letter writing exercise! Thanks for reading along today, gardeners! We hope you enjoyed this craft and would love to see your woven bowls! Tag us @youaragardener or email flowers@youareagardener.com to show us your creations, send us your weeds, or to just say hi! Continue to #PullYourWeeds and remember #TheFutureIsBright!

When seeds of kindness are planted, the most beautiful things take root. We have been receiving so much positive feedback from our community lately. It is messages like these that keep us energized and moving forward. You Are a Gardener is a grass roots, self funded company that was created to help make the future a brighter place for this younger generation. Our children’s book, #PullYourWeeds blog, Hello Gardeners videos and educational programs all stem in emotionally empowering kids! If you are looking to embrace a new narrative to help children face big emotions with positive solutions...click here and get ready to see where it ‘grows’ 🌻#TakingRoot#NewNarrative#EmpoweringKids