Gardening with Children
As fall approaches, the cooler weather is prime for spending more time engaging in outdoor hobbies. Gardening is a good way to engage your child’s senses and instill in them a love for growing things. Gardening with your children can be a simple and fun process. We have a few tips on how to make gardening with kids a success.
Start small. Consider starting with a small garden, perhaps with only a few pots on your porch or, if you live in a place where space is limited, a few plants under a grow light works too. Be sure to designate a raised garden bed, container or ground plot for each child so that they feel a sense of ownership. You can even consider converting your child’s sandbox to a special garden bed!
Stay colorful. In order to keep your young gardeners interested and excited about their new hobby, choose plants that are colorful, flavorful and fragrant. Plants that come from large seeds are ideal so that little hands are able to easily sow them into the soil.
Give them the tools. Give your little one a child-sized shovel, hoe, and pair of gloves, teaching them to store away the tools after use. You can give them jobs like weeding small areas and watering the garden. These activities will help them learn about responsibility and organization.
Stimulate learning. Through gardening at home, children begin to understand and appreciate the source of their food and become familiar with the food cycle by eating the plants they helped to grow. A visit to a farmer’s market can help further your little one’s learning process about food even more.
Show it off. Be sure to give “garden tours” to friends and families so that your little ones receive special attention for the work they have done. This will help to keep them motivated for future projects.
