Kids learn best by doing, and gardening is a very hands on activity that has so many lessons for children to learn. Whatever your own experience is with gardening, it is easy to introduce kids to the garden and task them with age appropriate chores. Children of every age can take part in planning, designing, planting and tending a garden, and with a little planning you can keep them interested and active in the garden all summer long.
Use these tips and activities to introduce kids to gardening and keep them invested in the plants as they grow.
Decide on a Type of Garden
Stay as flexible as possible when it comes to the type of garden to be planted, flower, vegetable or container. If you have children that are unable to choose just one, remember that a vegetable garden benefits from flowers, and ornamental vegetables make great flower garden additions. Giving children the deciding factor creates a sense of ownership for the garden, which in turn keeps them involved.
Seed Selection
Once their garden type is chosen, make the seed selection a game. Help children create a chart, creating 3-4 categories for different types of plants. For example, flower garden categories can be divided by color, size (to ensure flowers of every type are included) or by when they bloom (to ensure there is always a color in the garden. A vegetable garden chart can include root vegetables, leafy greens/bushy vegetables and then climbing vegetables. As children peruse the seeds available, allow them a manageable number for each category that they use the chart to keep track with.
Creating a Garden Plan
Creating a garden plan is an important step for every gardener, and it is a great lesson to learn early on. Allow children the chance to plan out their gardens with the help of a garden mockup. Use construction paper to cut out a variety of shapes in different colors to represent the flowers being planted. An example set of flower garden shapes can include orange circles for marigolds, purple ovals for petunias, yellow squares for sunflowers and red triangles for geraniums. Attach flower choices to a sheet of brown construction paper in the way they want to plant the garden, and bring their garden plan outside when planting day arrives.
Plant and Encourage
Provide children with their own set of gardening tools for planting and the chance to lead, delegate or get the job done for themselves. Having a say makes them more likely to want to see the garden completed and successful, so they will take more initiative in the watering and weeding. Older children can begin keeping a garden journal, tracking the progress and growth of each type of plant. These notes come in handy next year too. Younger children can track the growth of their garden using a flower growth chart, much like you would keep track of their own growth.
Garden Party
Celebrate your child’s successes at gardening, even if garden has dwindled still recognize the effort, with a small celebration. A nice dinner including vegetables grown at home or a dressed up table with cut flowers from the garden are the perfect celebrations of their garden.
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Thanks for this. It seems like such an overwhelming task with kids– at the same time it feels so important. You break it down and make it all feel do-able. My kids eat more veggies and fruits than anything else. I know they will completely appreciate growing a garden. I’ll be home schooling this year. This will definately be part of our lesson planning. Thank you.
I plan on getting my 2 grandchildren involved in our garden this year. I love the idea of giving them some responsibility and then they get to enjoy the harvest of their work!
Neat idea to start with my daughter. I actually had planted a few seeds with her back in march, but they didn’t grow. But I think it was because we didn’t prepare ourselves and made a plan like you have it here. I’ll be taking these notes in consideration because I am not an expert in gardening . Thanks !
What great tips and I know how excited they are when they get to plant their own flower, vegetable, etc. My nephew let his 2 children go out and plant things in the garden with him and they help water it and care for it daily.They get so excited to go out there just to see how their plant is doing.
Thanks for sharing. I am getting my grandchildren (4 & 6) into gardening this year!!
Great tips. I am getting my nephews into gardening and they are really enjoying it.
its great to get kids involved in this. teaches them how things work
We grow a garden every year. I let them pick one vegetable that they think will be their. I let them grown them from seedlings and plant them once they are big enough. They usually end up picking some kind of melon though.
I agree, kids learn best by hands on experiences, and participating in whatever chore presented. My Dad taught me about vegetable gardens when I was young. Those lessons are fond memories ever since. Thanks for sharing this post about Gardening.
Getting kids involved in gardening is so good for their moral. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and builds self-esteem. I think every kid should take the time to learn how and feel like they did a good job.
i like the idea of a garden party !:) maybe a little birthday party right in the backyard ! or tea party? love it!