Gardening is a great activity to share with kids of any age! Children love plants and watching them grow. Gardening not only teaches kids about caring for our environment and the earth, but it also helps them learn to appreciate the outdoors and build connections with family at the same time. Here are 5 tips for gardening with kids.
Gardening means different things to different people. It can mean vegetable gardening, growing flowers, outdoor landscaping, or tending houseplants. Whatever it means to you and your kids, these 5 tips for gardening with Kids are all about keeping gardening interesting and fun!
5 Tips on Gardening with Kids
Keep it Simple:
The number one tip for gardening with kids is to keep it simple. Don’t take on too big a project when it comes to gardening with kids. If you’re like me, I get excited when I start a new project and can be easily tempted to take on too much at once. The problem when you do this with gardening is that if you take on too much, your plants can die without proper attention. This may make your kids feel terrible and discourage them from any future gardening. Consider container gardening if you want to start small or if space is an issue.
Grow what you use:
It helps kids to get involved in gardening when they see the rewards. If you’re planting vegetables, grow foods your family is going to eat often. Plant your favorites. Design your crops around a favorite dish like spaghetti or pizza. Grow tomatoes for any easy sauce or slicing right on top of pizza. Grow other vegetables for that dish like bell peppers, onions, garlic, basil or oregano. At the end of the season, be sure to freeze your extra bounty.
If you have a flower garden, bring cut flowers indoors to enjoy. If you have enough blooms, bring some to friends and relatives. Spread the beauty! If you’re growing houseplants, be sure to grow an Aloe vera plant. There’s nothing like its medicinal properties for soothing burns and sunburns to teach kids about what wonderful ways plants help people.
Give kids their own gardening tools:
It feels good to have your own things right? Kids will feel more engaged in gardening when they have their own gardening tools. Properly sized tools for smaller hands help keep gardening safe for kids. Bright, colorful tools make gardening more interesting and fun. Get kids their own tools even if they aren’t necessarily too small for some of your regularly sized tools. A bright, functional tool bag and few pairs of gloves are also a must-have. Most importantly, remember a gardening hat and sunscreen for sun protection.
Gardening Sets for Kids We Like on Amazon:
Gardening Set for Kids #1
Kids Gardening Set #2
Kids Gardening Set #3
Check on your garden daily:
Check in on your garden every day even if it doesn’t need a daily task performed. This helps teach children how to care for living things and to appreciate the small rewards in gardening like seeing flowers open and watching fruits ripen and noticing bees and butterflies enjoying the garden. Hopefully, spending this time outdoors will help keep kids away from screens and instill a love of the outdoors.
Garden year-round:
No matter where you live, you can garden year-round with hydroponic gardening. Many products on the market help gardeners garden year-round. There are super simple setups to more technologically advanced systems. These systems not only help gardeners extend their season but open up this activity to families that might not otherwise be able to garden. I have two different types of AeroGardens in my home that I use year-round. They come in several different sizes and when I get home from work and it’s dark outside, my plants are inside ready to tend to and enjoy. They’re simple and easy to use. You can grow anything from flowers to tomatoes to cucumbers in them. Hydroponic plants sprout quickly and are fun to watch as they grow.
Indoor Grow Systems We Like on Amazon:
Nothing takes the place of outdoor adventures for kids of any age and what better place to start those adventures than in their backyard? Gardening can even be fun for kids when gardens are kept on their back or front porches, in their homes, or hanging from pots on indoor patios. No matter where you garden, getting kids involved helps them appreciate nature in action. They learn about plants, animals, insects, and life cycles while enjoying fresh air and sunshine. It allows them a place to be spontaneous and run around, get tired, and use their imagination.
Use these 5 tips on Gardening with Kids to help your children develop a lifelong appreciation of plants, nature, and the outdoors.
Do you have any tips on Gardening with Children? We’d love to hear them!
Check out our Etsy Printables Shop for Great Kids Printables
More Gardening Posts Below:
6 Easy Tips on How to Care for Succulents
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Lisa is a mother of three lovely young women and is a new grandmother to a baby boy! She has been married to her high school sweetheart for more than thirty years. Lisa is originally from Dearborn Heights, Michigan, but has lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1984. Running a small business for over 25 years and raising a family has made for a busy, busy life with many ups and downs; it’s definitely been an adventure.
Lisa’s always involved in one project or another whether it’s work related or serving her community. She also recently went back to school to finish her bachelor’s degree in American Studies. Lisa tries to make every day a good day—that means learning something new, practicing kindness, and enjoying the present moment.
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