Smiling Roots

Smiling Roots Handcrafted Art, Garden Design & Education and Horticultural Therapy Programming

Thank you for another fun nature workshop with these wonderful kiddos! Some of the activities kids had to choose from:-...
06/16/2026

Thank you for another fun nature workshop with these wonderful kiddos! Some of the activities kids had to choose from:

- decorate compostable cups and wooden plant labels, plant marigolds in them to take home

- create a nature journal using stickers and pressed plants, choose a real bird feather for a bookmark to take home

- use eye safety goggles and a hammer to smash open geodes to take home

- explore a worm bin and try to match live specimens and eggs to resin models

- explore a rock, mineral and fossil station, try to identify polished rocks

- explore insect and bird wildlife guides

- create a dance routine using sensory slug rattle toys.

Kindergarten through 5th grade students at Russo McEntee Academy enjoyed free time in one of their school gardens this l...
06/06/2026

Kindergarten through 5th grade students at Russo McEntee Academy enjoyed free time in one of their school gardens this last week of school. They were busy:

🐛 using for North American butterflies and caterpillars to identify Monarch and Swallowtail butterflies & Swallowtail caterpillars on parsley

🫐 Harvesting blueberries

🪴 Planting succulents in take home containers

🌊 Watering plants

05/17/2026

Happy moments for kiddos this week brought to us by access to nature.

Preschoolers in have been planting seasonal seeds and seedlings, harvesting carrots and tree collards, spreading compost and worm castings, and making art for their outdoor learning space.

In TK-5TH grade students at Russo McEntee Academy have been VERY busy: planting seasonal seeds and seedlings, creating aromatic bouquets, spreading compost and worm castings, watering plants, taste testing sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and working on a wildlife pond build. There was even a field trip to Hidden Villa!

Also in administration, teachers, staff and volunteers cane together to plant out 8 raised garden beds in the beautiful new outdoor learning space and community garden at Ocala Middle School STEAM! We planted tomatoes, cucumber, summer squash, winter squash, bush beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, sweet corn, chives, basil, cilantro, sunflowers, alyssum, California native wildflowers, salvia and rosemary.

Incredible how many moments of peace, joy, exploration, surpise, learning, practice and play can happen in one week when children are able to freely connect with nature .

New artwork for my wall courtesy of the sweet and outgoing preschool kiddos in my garden classes at Educare Santee. I lo...
05/08/2026

New artwork for my wall courtesy of the sweet and outgoing preschool kiddos in my garden classes at Educare Santee. I love it!

Morning harvest from a small container garden I have at home.
05/02/2026

Morning harvest from a small container garden I have at home.

A morning of worm bin exploration, soil prep, watering and seed planting with Ms. Tina and crew at Educare Santee.
04/27/2026

A morning of worm bin exploration, soil prep, watering and seed planting with Ms. Tina and crew at Educare Santee.

04/25/2026

The Environmental Justice League at Russo McEntee Academy in have been busy working on fun and engaging community-based projects!

🌱Planting milkweed from and
🌱Planting vegetables and herbs from Vlad at CalFresh
🌱Spreading compost and worm castings from Vlad at Cal Fresh
🌱Creating nutrition education garden signage for families to enjoy during drop-off, pickup and school events
🌱Harvesting fresh herbs, onions, leafy greens and aromatic floral bouquets for the school farmer's market table
🌱Adding vibrant colors to wooden signage stakes
🌱Setting up a solar powered wildlife pond
🌱Expanding their learning garden square footage in preparation for table grapes and thornless blackberry plants
🌱Checking on the worm bin

Exciting carrot harvest this morning with Ms. Tina and kiddos at Educare in ! Children practiced identifying carrot lea...
04/24/2026

Exciting carrot harvest this morning with Ms. Tina and kiddos at Educare in ! Children practiced identifying carrot leaves and pulling the root crops from where the leaves meet the top of the carrots.

We also planted cucumber, lettuce, zucchini and purple basil seedlings in addition to nasturtium and sunflower seeds.

Next week we'll get their worm bin back up and running and keep prepping garden beds for planting.

Looking forward

04/23/2026

Fun Earth Day celebration at Russo McEntee Academy! Thanks again

Thank you for donating seed packets to my TK-5 garden classes! Students are excited to display the fruits of their lab...
04/18/2026

Thank you for donating seed packets to my TK-5 garden classes! Students are excited to display the fruits of their labor at an upcoming Earth Day festival at their school. We were able to pot up 350 seedlings for families to take home!

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San Jose, CA

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
Friday 10am - 6pm

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+14086411506

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