Empathize
Students will launch the community garden challenge by comparing healthy food options and listening to community voices about food access, then collect firsthand user evidence through a community partner conversation and create an empathy map with quotes, drawings, and observations to prepare for defining the problem.
Days 1 - 2
🧺 Healthy Food Market Basket
Launch 45m
πŸ—ΊοΈ Food Access Empathy Map
Deliverable 45m
Define
Students will sort and synthesize what they learned from community users and class research, identify patterns about healthy food access and plant needs, and turn those insights into a child-friendly problem definition that can guide garden design and poster planning.
Days 3 - 4
🧩 Food Access Clues Sort
Knowledge/Skill Building 45m
πŸ“ Garden Need Statement
Deliverable 45m
Ideate
Students will use what they learned from community partners and earlier research to generate many possible garden and outreach ideas, compare them against real community needs, and create a clear concept sketch for the solution they want to prototype next.
Days 5 - 7
🌱 Garden Help Ideas Burst
Project Work 45m
🧺 Pick Ideas That Fit Families
Deliverable 45m
πŸ—ΊοΈ Garden Concept Storyboard
Deliverable 45m
Prototype
Students will build and improve testable versions of their community garden communication tools and garden layout ideas. They will make a quick first draft, gather feedback from classmates and a community partner, revise with evidence, and prepare a stronger prototype set that connects plant needs, healthy eating, and community access.
Days 8 - 11
βœ‚οΈ Garden Map & Poster Mockups
Deliverable 45m
πŸ—£οΈ Two-Friend Feedback Round
Deliverable 45m
πŸ‘©β€πŸŒΎ Grocery and Pantry Test Talk
Community Experience 45m
πŸͺ΄ Revised Prototype Set
Deliverable 45m
Test/Present
Students will test their garden explanations and outreach materials with real community users, revise their poster and class garden story using feedback, and present the final community garden design to families and partners during a public Garden Walk.
Days 12 - 15
πŸ—£οΈ Garden Walk User Test
Community Experience 45m
πŸ–οΈ Poster & Blueprint Revision Round
Deliverable 45m
🎀 Garden Story Rehearsal
Project Work 45m
🌱 Grand Opening Garden Walk
Assessment 45m