Hello Gardeners! Whether you are stuck inside from a rainy day or housebound due to a snowstorm, there are a countless ways to have fun and expand your social and emotional skills. Let's look at a few ways to turn your boring day-in into an adventure! Pull out some hula hoops, cones, cardboard boxes, jump ropes - whatever you have - and create an indoor obstacle course. Maybe you imagine a room full of lava that you need to cross over or maybe you are weaving your way through a thick forest. Obstacle courses are a great way to flex your creative muscles and your imagination. Working on these skills helps you with your ability to problem solve and come up with creative solutions! Use painter's tape for endless activities! Whether you are making a race track for your cars, turning your kitchen into a hopscotch course, or creating a custom Twister board - you can always get creative with painter's tape - and leave no trace! Using materials to turn ideas into realities is a great way to work on executing your goals and being proactive. Pretend to be spies with this Hallway Laser Maze courtesy of It's Always Autumn! It not only helps kids work on awareness of their bodies and balance, but gets them up and moving! All you need is some tape and a roll of streamers! When in doubt - you can always reach for your art materials, a board game, tackle a home project with a parent or sibling, or maybe try cooking or baking something new! Next time you are stuck inside all day, give one of these activities a try! It's a great way to encourage creativity and imagination, while also decreasing screen time! Let us know how you spend you #DayIn in the comments below - and don't forget to #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! With a new year and a new decade upon us, there is no better time to reflect on the past year's accomplishments, upsets, friendships, and progress. When we reflect, it's easy to see the past through a self-depricating, judgmental lens. Here are some reminders to help your reflect in the most productive way! Reminder #1 Remember our blog post "Treat Yourself the Way YOU Want to be Treated!"? When you think back to some of the losses, the challenges, or the upsets - be gentle with yourself. Recognize that growth is a process and a major sign of growth is being okay with your mistakes and your challenges and having the ability to try again! We love this illustration & quote by @colormehapii! So true 🙌 🙌!! Reminder #2 Don't just stop on reflection - set new goals based on what you accomplished this year! For example, if last year you said, "I'd like to get more involved in my community" and then you accomplished that this year, take it a step further and say, "This year, I'd like to organize a community service group or I'd like to host a fundraiser!" Reminder #3 If you have a difficult time thinking about the past year's flowers, ask yourself: What were some of my favorite experiences from this year? Were there any times I felt really happy? What were the experiences that made me feel most proud? When did I feel the most loved? What am I grateful for at this very moment? Our author, #ShannaTruffini, shared this proud moment of #GardenerAnna co-presenting a #PullYourWeeds workshop to her 5th grade class! Reminder #4 Honor the important people in your life. This could be your mom or you dad, your siblings, your best friends, your godparents, your neighbors - next time you see them, give them a hug, a high-five, or a big thank you! It's important to remember that you didn't make it to this new year alone! Reminder #5 A new year is a great time to kick an old habit. In your new year intentions, think about any behavior you'd like to change - maybe biting your nails, committing to active listening, getting your homework completed a little earlier, pulling away from your devices (iPads, phones, TV). Kicking a bad habit is a wonderful way to practice being present and showing an awareness over your body! These reminders will not only help you close out the year, but they will start the new year with clarity, honesty, and motivation! And of course, alongside all of these reminders, never forget to #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! If there is one thing we learn from living the #GardenerLifestyle it's that we can always help a gardener in need. There are people all across the world who need a boost, and YOU can spread seeds of positivity, hope, strength, joy, and so much more. There are so many programs that link you to #GardenersInNeed and we have compiled a short list for you! Spread seeds of positivity to hospitalized kids! Cards for Hospitalized Kids (CFHK) is an internationally recognized charitable organization that spreads hope, joy & magic to hospitalized kids across America through uplifting, handmade cards. Spread seeds of support to soldiers and veterans! Whether you want to volunteer for an organization like Backpacks For Life that helps homeless veterans, or you want to boost up those deployed with a care package, there are so many ways to send some love! Spread seeds and smiles at your local nursing home! Pack a bag with some board game or a couple puzzles, gather a group of friends to sing holiday tunes, or just go and listen to the stories of the residents. The people living in these facilities can always use a friendly face! Great job #GirlScouts! There are thousands of ways to volunteer, give back to your community, and spread seeds of positivity, hope, and support. Gather up some friends, team up with your family, or go at it solo and give one of these a try! Serve meals at a soup kitchen Play with pets at an animal rescue Clean up your local park Organize a food drive at your school Hand out bagged lunches to the homeless Host a bake sale and donate proceeds to a charity of your choice Donate your cold weather clothing to shelters What are your favorite ways to spread seeds? Let us know in the comments below 👇👇👇. Have a heart. Lend a hand. Make a difference.

Hello Gardeners! When writing You Are A Gardener, author #ShannaTruffini, made a real effort not to depict stress, anxiety, and sadness in this outwardly negative way, but remind gardeners that EVERY garden has weeds. "So many books that I had read previously identify stress and anxiety as dark clouds, something heavy, a worry. Stress happens, weeds happen. It's just a natural fact." -Shanna Truffini What if instead of categorizing our emotions as good or bad, or wanted or unwanted, we used them as #signals that help us come up with solutions? Instead of being frustrated that you are feeling stressed or trying to ignore the feeling of stress, ask yourself, "Why am I feeling this way? What is this feeling of stress trying to tell me?" Notice how your body feels. Can you figure out what caused this emotion to come up? A great example of this is when you feel that kind of jittery, butterflies, sick-to-your-stomach feeling before a big test, game, or performance. That feeling is probably a signal that you are nervous! Look at it as a reminder to take a few deep breaths, a reminder of the practice and preparation you've put in, and just focus on doing your best. Every day this week, take 5 minutes to notice how you are feeling at this very moment. Close your eyes, take slow, deep breaths, and notice any emotions that come up for you. If something does come up, ask yourself, "what does this feeling tell me?" Try to come up with a response to your signal or talk it through with someone you trust. **Remember, the best way to #PullAWeed is by talking about it!** If you can practice this process of noticing a feeling and adjusting your mindset and behavior to address it, that will not only give you the confidence to push through those difficult moments, but it will help you communicate your needs to others. As always, email us with your flowers, weeds, or questions about You Are A Gardener - and don't forget to #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! With the new year upon us, there is no better time to reflect on the last 12 months - reflect on the triumphs, the disappointments, the struggles, and the friendships. As you may know, tree rings tell us a lot about the life of a tree - how old it is, the conditions it's lived through, and the health of the tree. Today, we have a great craft that allows us to draw the tree rings of our lifetime! Scroll down to learn more! We have highlighted a few activities to help you reflect on the past year, while starting off the new one with positivity and an open mind! Draw a Reflective Self-Portrait. Ask your students to draw a current self-portrait. Maybe provide them with mirrors so that they can really look at themselves - look at how they've physically changed over the past year and reflect on the non-physical changes. Write a 2-part journal entry. The first entry reflecting on the past year and the second entry setting intentions for the next. Write about the things you tried, the goals you accomplished, or maybe the ones you still are working to accomplish. Be gentle with yourself and remember, it's a process. Celebrate the accomplishments and commit yourself to working on what's left. Do our Reflective Tree Ring craft! Ask you students to draw tree rings - have them draw the same amount of rings as their age. Color each ring to distinguish each year you've been alive and inside of the rings, write some of your biggest, most memorable flowers from the last year. Look at the contents of your toolbox. What tools have you realized need to be in your toolbox? How do you keep your garden healthy? It's so important to check in with yourself and ask these questions! Take some time to grow a Gratitude Garden! On each flower you make, write a flower from the past year. Place all of your flowers together so you can appreciate and admire them. Thanks for reading along gardeners! What are your resolutions for the new year? Write them in the comments below and remember to #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! Whether it's your first time visiting the #PullYourWeeds blog or your fiftieth - welcome! We are so happy you've joined us. Our main goal with this blog is to be a resource for educators, parents & guardians, and gardeners of all ages! We offer inspiring messages, fun & educational crafts, mindfulness exercises, healthy & simple recipes, and so much more. If you know someone who you think could benefit from this blog, go ahead and click those three dots in the upper right hand corner of this post and SHARE! Last week, we started a new segment of the blog called #SELatHome. It's where we take fun, #educational, and #therapeutic activities and show how they encourage social and emotional learning. Today, we are looking at coloring books! A few years ago, coloring books had a resurgence. Not for children though - for adults! The benefits of coloring have been recognized by the Cleveland Clinic, the Wounded Warrior Project, and The American Art Therapy Association. #Coloring helps encourage early childhood development skills such as fine motor skills, color recognition, handwriting, and hand-eye coordination, while also providing emotional and psychological benefits. These include: Next time you take a family road trip or pack for a family outing - try bringing a couple coloring books or printing out some coloring pages! You can find free printables here, number & letter coloring pages here, and tons more here. This is something the whole family can do together - it's a fun way to unplug and be present with one another, while also building up your toolbox with an easy stress reliever and mindful activity. Let us know what you think in the comments below, and don't forget to #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! The difference between a good day and a bad day can come down to the smallest, little thing. We can be having what we would consider a wonderful day, and then one bad experience can make us look back on that day in a negative light. Of course, not all days are going to be good ones - but choosing to focus on the negative and not having the ability to let go of an annoying experience or a frustrating experience, can permeate into our gardens. Negativity can grab hold of our flowers and prevent us from seeing their beautiful colors. How do we fix this? Well, it's just about taking a minute every day to let the sunshine illuminate your flowers! Tonight at dinner, ask your family to share 2 flowers from their day. This will force your family members to reflect on their days and allow everyone to end their day with sunshine! Want a visual reminder? Try our Flower Window Ornament and see your flowers every time the sun shines through! What you'll need: 2 small cardboard squares (the same size) Tissue paper (white and a few other colors) Clear craft glue Scissors 4 inch piece of string Cut out the inside of both squares - leaving about an inch border. Glue a square of white tissue paper to your frame. Start with your flower. With small dots of glue, add your flower petals. On the top half of your frame, use blue or another color to create the sky. On the bottom half, place a stem for your flower and green tissue paper (or another color) to create the ground. It is okay to glue on top of your flower - we are going to turn it over in a minute! Glue a white square onto your other frame and the glue both frames together - sealing in the colored tissue paper! Don't forget to glue your string in between the two frames. You can always tape this on the back if your forget! Voila! A beautiful "stained glass" flower! When you see this flower, use it as a reminder to reflect on your day's positives. That's all for today, gardeners - remember #TheFutureIsBright!

Hello Gardeners! About a month ago, our author, Shanna Truffini, had the pleasure of speaking with HipNJ's, Maria Falzo. Hip New Jersey (HipNJ) is a lifestyle program featuring New Jersey businesses, organizations, events, entertainment, and so much more. Their #HipTV segments are aired on HomeTowne Television (HTTV) and NJ On Air. HipNJ's main goal is to spread the word about community events and NJ entrepreneurs, so we were thrilled to meet the team and spread our seeds to their loyal viewers! #OnSet 🎬 with #HipNJ! What a fun studio! You can watch the interview here, in case you missed it! Our goal from the beginning was to spread seeds of positivity to as many gardeners as possible. That's why opportunities like this are so exciting! If you know a teacher, director of an after-school program, or bookstore owner that could help us spread our seeds or benefit from our program - send them our way! Making connections with educators and local businesses is so important to us. And remember, the best way to keep you garden healthy and growing is to #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! We are starting a new segment on the #PullYourWeeds blog called #SELatHome. This segment is aimed to help parents continue the social and emotional learning at home through activities and crafts, while also helping to encourage those important gardening conversations! Playing a board game with you friends or family is such a fun way to spend an evening in. It gives everyone a chance to pull away from television, homework, iPads, work stress, and just be present and enjoy each other. But board games also are a great way to sneak in a little social and emotional learning at home. Different games target different learning opportunities. Jenga helps players work on impulse control and self-monitoring. Since the object of the game is to prevent the tower from toppling over, this helps both kids and adults work on awareness and carefulness of movements. Rock Me Archimedes is a two player game that requires players to take risks and plan ahead. Many times children will be afraid to reach for something due to a fear of losing. By practicing this through games, kids can build a healthy relationship with winning and losing. Bananagrams is not only a great game to help kids practice forming and spelling words, but it also is a great game to help kids settle down. Spelling requires focus - pull this game out when everyone needs to calm down a bit! Operation is a classic! This game is a great way to help kids practice patience. Like Jenga, there is a certain amount of awareness one needs to be successful in this game. Also, Operation helps teach us to learn from our mistakes and continue to try new approaches! If your family is more of a get-up-and-move type family or if you are hosting a big sleepover, scavenger hunts are the perfect activity! Whether you have you hunt inside or outside, they are a great way to get kids up and moving, communicating, and problem solving, while strengthening their observation skills! Give it a try! Pick a night this week, pull out your favorite board game or try one of the games mentioned above, and have fun! What are your favorite board games? Let us know in the comments below 👇👇👇 As always gardeners, #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! Nighttime can be a really stressful time for some gardeners. When we finally slow down and try to relax, we are left with racing thoughts, anxiety, and fear. Other times, it's what we experience when we're asleep that makes us nervous about bedtime. Nightmares, anxiety dreams, punishment dreams, post-trauma dreams, and night terrors - there is a whole world of weeds that can pop up when we are asleep. What happens when we find ourselves scared awake from one of these dreams? How do we handle it? Try a grounding technique Often what makes nightmares so impactful, is how easily they can disorient us and make us unsure about if the terrible event we experienced was a dream or reality. Next time this happens to you, sit up on the edge of your bed, plant your feet firmly on the ground, maybe wiggle your toes a little. Feel yourself in your body, in your room, in your house. Do a body scan Laying in bed, start at your toes, wiggle them around, focus on just that part of your body, then move up to your ankle and do the same. Do this with every part of your body moving all the way up to your head. After you complete this scan, you should not only feel more relaxed, but fully in your body. This is a great technique to try before sleep too! Listen to relaxing music If you find yourself not able to shake the images, sounds, and feelings of a nightmare or dream, try focusing on someone else's voice or the instruments in a composition. This can help distract you from the thoughts swirling around your head and help you fall back to sleep. Read a chapter of a book The act of turning on the light and seeing yourself in your bed and not in your dream's environment helps bring you back to the present. Reading, similar to listening to music, will help distract you from the dream and can help you fall back to sleep. Get a nightlight Nightlights can function as orienting devices. When you wake up from a nightmare, look for the glow of your nightlight - when you see it, you know you are safe! Try this craft for a DIY Tin Can Firefly Lamp! Finally, if you are experiencing disturbing and terrifying dreams fairly often, talk to your parents or guardians! Sleep is so important to keeping our gardens healthy and talking with someone about the kind of stressful dreams you are having can help locate a larger issue. Thanks for reading along, gardeners! Remember you can always reach out with your flowers and weeds. Email flowers@youareagardner.com or tag @youareagardener. We really love hearing about how the book and the gardener mentality has helped you #PullYourWeeds!

Hello Gardeners! Have you ever heard the expression, "treat others the way you want to be treated" For so many of us though, WE don't treat OURSELVES the way we want to be treated. Because we are the most real, unhinged, and open with ourselves, we tend to say things to ourselves that we would never say to another person! Think about it. Imagine an experience where you either made a mistake, failed to complete a task, disappointed someone, or maybe embarrassed yourself in front of your classmates. Think about how you "consoled" yourself. Did you say things like: It's okay, you'll do better next time. I'm proud of you for trying! Don't worry about it, it will pass. Mistakes happen! Bravo for those of you that did, but I'm guessing most of us said things that were a little more harsh. The next time you find yourself in this situation, think about what you would say to a friend in your situation. Write a letter to yourself. Recognize and praise all that you have done well this week, no matter how small the victories. Console yourself for the mistakes, embarrassing moments, and the upsets. Remind yourself of the support you have and then sign your letter with love. We are going to leave you with this quote: "You will never speak to anyone more than you speak to yourself in your head. Be kind to yourself" - Author unknown Be kind to yourselves, gardeners! #TheFutureIsBright

Hello Gardeners! We've all been there - it's the first day of school or the first day of a new after school club and your teachers asks you and your classmates to do an icebreaker. Icebreakers, in theory, are a great way to get to know your classmates and allow everyone to get comfortable with each other. Sometimes though, they seem to force students to share overly personal information or they don't produce responses that actually help students get to know one another. A truly effective icebreaker should encourage easy conversation without forcing your students to take a social risk! 1. Would you rather...? Ask questions that help you get to know a person, rather than out-of-this-world, make believe questions. Try questions like, "Would you rather be outdoors or indoors?", "Would you rather live in the city or in the country?", "Would you rather go to a concert or sporting event?" Asking your classmates these sorts of questions actually help you get to know their ideal environment and may lead to deeper conversation. 2. Gather in groups Ask students to gather in groups that share similarities - gather with people who are wearing similar shoes, gather with the people who have the same color eyes, gather with people who share your favorite color. This shows your students that no matter how different we are, we all share similarities! 3. Combo Creating Fold a paper into thirds vertically and have 3 students collaborate on one image! It's a fun way to introduce your students to one another and they can laugh and connect over the results. What are your favorite icebreakers? Let us know in the comments below! 👇👇👇