Kids in the Garden

How to Include the Kiddies?

Most Kids love dirt. Gardenig can be a great way to spend time with your kids, and to stimulate them in new ways, providing new insights and forms of learning and appreciation that come with gardening.

Here are some fun activities from the good people at about gardening on how to inlude the kiddies in the gardening process:

1. Choosing Plants

Kids will most go for the veggies. Fast growing vegetables like radishes, peas, and cucumbers do well, and for the smaller children large seeds like corn, beans, peas, and sunflowers work best for handling.

For plants choose bright varirties that will not grow to tall, so that children will be stimulated at eye level. Also, throw in some sunflowres, kids eyes will glow at the prospect and realisation of a flower that can grow 3 metres (Wow!)

2. Planting

Don't be a spoil sport, let them in on the planting. Little fingers often have a hard time with handling the smaller seeds, but they can always cover the seeds with soil.

3. Garden Journal

You can make this what you want, and it is a great oppurtunity for the kids to draw the plants, record what they see in the growing process, take photos, explore bugs that come to visit etc...you can even get them to write what they like about the whole enterprise.

4. Make it Theirs

When they plant the seeds, mark down on the packet what varieties have been planted by whom, and make a little sign for their plot if you choose to section of different areas for the kids.

5. Kiddy Tools

Kids love dirt, and water. Giving them small tools to garden with is a great way get them involved, and curb those energies into the creation of life that comes with gardening. Small trowels for digging, and a small watering can are an excellent start, and perhaps all you need.

6. Environment

Make sure you teach them about the surrounding environment, whether it be composting, mulching, wildlife etc... This will give them an idea of the connection between the environment and what they are caring for.

7. Patience

Maybe the most important point. Kids will pull out vegetables too early, pick the petals off all their leaves, try to dig a small hole to China in the middle of their plot. This is OK, and part of the creative process. But maybe you could let them taste the difference between a radish pulled too early, and the real thing....Above all, let them enjoy it, and take pride in their creation.