Busy Bees is launching an exciting new 'Grow Your Own' scheme for 2010, which will encourage children to plant and nurture their own delicious fruit and vegetables at nursery.

Each of the nurseries will be provided with equipment for looking after the produce, which can be grown inside or outside in the nursery garden.

Children at Busy Bees Nurseries will be involved in planting, watering and watching their crops grow, as well as discussions on healthy living and life cycles. The children will measure and monitor the growth of their food, before helping to prepare their fruit and vegetables for eating as part of a tasty meal!

The new 'Grow Your Own' scheme will enable Busy Bees nurseries to control the produce provided to children, and will offer fewer or no pesticides, no genetic modification, more flavour and a reduction in pollution created by transport.

The new scheme follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which states that early years settings should 'provide suitable experiences for young children to enable them to understand what healthy living is.' Growing and nurturing vegetables from seeds or cuttings will encourage the skills needed to ensure the plants grow, including communication, physical development, problem solving and personal development.

Childcare and Curriculum Manager at Busy Bees, Lisa Snell, said "The key message for practitioners in early year’s settings is to be good role models for young children in leading a healthy lifestyle and help them develop later in life, when they take responsibility for making their own decisions on maintaining their health and well-being."