Classrooms with plants have many positive effects for both students and educators, and are an important component of creating a healthy classroom environment. Plants are good for minds and bodies. Indoor plants remove air pollutants and stabilize CO2, while creating a happier and calmer space for creative and focused learning.
Classrooms filled with plants and school gardens are important for our kids’ mental and physical well-being. Research shows that test scores increase by 10%; children are 7% healthier; and symptoms of ADD are reduced in classrooms that contain plants. Teachers report more positive feelings, greater satisfaction, and less misbehavior in classrooms with live plants.
As children return to school in the midst of a pandemic or begin online classrooms, these findings are particularly timely and relevant.
The shareable infographic, #PlantsDoThat Inside: Where We Learn, developed by the National Initiative for Consumer Horticulture (NICH), highlights the importance of indoor plants in schools (and home schools). Two additional NICH Infographics, #PlantsDoThat: At Home and #PlantsDoThat: Where We Heal may provide additional insight into the role of plants in promoting health and healing in indoor environments.
These infographics and other shareable social media graphics developed as part of the #PlantsDoThat campaign use data gathered from research publications, extension publications, government organization outputs, and resource websites. They are available for download and redistribution using the tag #PlantsDoThat at consumerhort.org/plantsdothat.