Culinary Arts in the Kinder “Garden”
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
written by Sabrina Ball
Culinary Arts is a weekly special in our Coyote Kindergarten class. Each week, the children make a different dish, often incorporating what is growing in the garden. Our school garden has become a beloved area of the school for the Coyote class, with students checking the daily progress of the vegetables and anticipating the next harvest. The children have closely watched the garden's changes and cheered on their one tiny pumpkin as it turned orange. The Coyotes have taken an interest in how plants grow and have been scientists guessing why there have been changes in the garden.
Miss Cassidy, one of our Kindergarten co-teachers, will look at what is ripe in the garden and base the recipes that week around what’s available, creating a farm-to-table connection. The Coyotes help harvest and take great pride in showing everyone what has been collected for this week’s Culinary creation. Trying new foods can be challenging, but seeing the vegetables in the garden and watching them grow fosters a more meaningful relationship, which often leads to more curiosity in giving them a try. Class discussions on how new taste buds can grow each night also empower children with confidence. So far this year, the variety of recipes has ranged from Ratatouille and salsa to soups, all featuring our garden veggies.
The garden has created connections beyond the food that is growing, with members of our community joining the children in the kitchen. We were especially excited to welcome Pastor Erik as a “Guest Chef” making delicious fry bread!
The significance of the school garden, though, holds deeper meaning for us as educators. Friedrich Fröbel, a German educator, opened the first Kindergarten, which translates to children’s garden. The metaphor of a garden represented a place for children to grow, develop, and blossom in a safe and nurturing environment with a strong emphasis on early childhood development, hands-on learning centered around the whole child, and fostering children’s natural curiosity around intellectual and social growth. As a society, the pushdown of standardized testing and formal academics has removed much of the intended purpose from the Kindergarten classroom, to the detriment of children. With our inaugural Coyote Kindergarten class, we have remained committed to best practices in early education by allowing our children to grow and thrive in Kindergarten. We invite you to stop by to see what’s growing in our Kinder Garden!
The addition of Kindergarten to our school also opens new doors for supporting families with young children in our community. Through Student Tuition Organizations (STO’s), Arizona taxpayers can redirect their state taxes as scholarships with a dollar-for-dollar tax credit. We have partnered with the Arizona Private Education Scholarship Fund, where you can learn more about helping our next generation of students grow in Kindergarten.