Elementary School – Challenge 1 Main Page
GRADES Pre-K to 5 | 2026-2027
Challenge 1: Miami, My Garden – Botanical Balconies
For Individuals — Maximum points: 600 (100 per submission; 2 submissions per category)
YOUR CHALLENGE:
Did you know that there is more than 40,000,000 square feet of balconies across Miami-Dade County? Besides being a big number, these spaces have the potential to be the superheroes of our city. So many of them sit empty. What if they could become beautiful green spaces for people to enjoy, while providing habitat for birds, butterflies and important insects and cooling down our city. This sounds foolproof, but growing plants on a balcony comes with its own challenges. Harsh sunlight, strong winds, and limited space can be obstacles for a balcony to be turned into a green oasis. Can you imagine what our city would look like if everyone could use their balcony to make our city greener?
Your challenge is to design a balcony garden that uses out-of-the-box thinking to deal with the problems that affect how we grow balcony plants. Consider how things like the amount of sunlight, the direction of the wind, and the size of the container affect how different plants grow. Your designed garden needs to make sure the plants stay healthy while getting creative with how and where you grow them.
SUBMISSIONS DUE: Friday, October 23, 2026 by 5:00pm
Please visit the below Challenge pages for specific entry requirements.
Challenge 1A (PreK to 1st Grade)