Super rad librarian Kristine Sabia, sent me this awesome project idea for mini bamboo gardens. Check it out!"I had my teens make their own bamboo garden, and I gave them each a terra cotta pot. They painted it however they liked and I even handed out a sheet with Asian symbols to represent happiness, wealth, etc. if they wanted to try to paint the symbols. I explained to them the history of “lucky bamboo,” and gave them a sheet of bamboo care tips to take home.
After the teens painted their pots, I handed out small stalks of bamboo. I actually had bamboo growing at home so I just used that. Some of the florists sell bamboo stalks, and there are also many places such as Home Depot that sell the three-tiered bamboo pots that one can just break apart and distribute to the kids. Supposedly the number of stalks also has meaning, so I gave them each three stalks for happiness!
After the paint dried, I had each table come up one by one so we could scoop colored gravel into the pots (fish tank gravel from Petco works fine). I had three different colored gravels for them to choose from. After we had potted our bamboo stalks, I had hemp string (neutral and rainbow colored) as well as red raffia string for the teens to tie around the stalks (sometimes red ribbons are tied around the stalks which represents the positive flow of energy (“chi”) in the room). I encouraged the teens to water their plants as soon as they went home.
This program was very successful; the finished project was awesome and the teens enjoyed themselves!"
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