Growing Little Green Thumbs: 3-Step Guide To Gardening With The Kids

Introducing your family to gardening can familiarize them with uncommon vegetables that 70% of kids don’t recognize, according to a study published by Food Science & Nutrition. Aside from this sizable portion of agricultural knowledge, gardening can also teach them about employing tools and working together to complete tasks.

In an age where health is a priority, eating as healthy as one can is a goal that many still struggle to hit, especially children. Fortunately, gardening can be a big help in that department. Don’t know how to start? Well, here’s a three-step guide to get you and your little ones planting in no time.

Boost Interest In The Activity

The first step in getting into gardening with your kids is to garner their interest. In doing so, keep things simple and fun, using activities kids love as selling points. Look back on the things you loved to do as a kid while out in the yard, such as making mud pies, playing with bugs, and playing with the soil. Those can entice your children to dig up irrigation canals, build worm farms, and make birdhouses.

Kids who like animals, such as birds and butterflies, would be thrilled to help in making a space that’s welcoming to them. Kids who are handy with crafts would enjoy creating things such as sundials and birdbaths. Besides this, you should also ensure they know your main motivation for involving them in these activities.

Get The Basics Of Gardening

When selecting your plants, take your children’s preferences into account. Children are attracted to bright colors and beautiful patterns. They also love seeing the fruits of their labor immediately, so flowers and vegetables that mature quickly are your best bet. To add to the beautification of the garden, consider adding decorative outdoor planters to house flowering shrubs or plants you want to be highlighted. Seeing that their efforts are contributing to making the garden more productive and colorful is sure to give your kids an overwhelming sense of achievement.

Assigning Tasks To Your Little Gardeners

Now that preparations are solved and sorted, it’s time to set off into your gardening area. Remember that children require different levels of supervision and have different levels of reliability depending on age. For example, older children can handle work involving moderate lifting, fine motor skills, and tools. This includes activities such as carrying fertilizer bags, replanting, pruning, mulching, and digging up large quantities of dirt.

Preschool-age children, on the other hand, can easily handle watering plants, planting seeds, and digging smaller amounts of dirt. They can be given intermediate tasks such as harvesting, fertilizing, tending to the worm farm, and being a helping hand to anyone that might need it.

As short as the attention span that some kids may have, they’re also as inquisitive as can be. Take advantage of their interests and you’ll have them marveling at the things that they’ve grown in two shakes of a seed packet.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash