Today, I’m sharing parenting tips on gardening with kids and why it is important. Gardening is a great way to introduce them to nature. It’s also a great way to give them a life skill; growing their own food. Gardening can be done in small spaces, vertical, in raised bed, containers and on plots. I suggest containers/pots for the kids, especially if you’re just starting to garden with them.
Gardening With Kids Tips:
Start with simple tasks with your kids or grandkids. When kids are excited about something, they look forward to the event or activity. First, get them excited about gardening:
Garden Boots – I purchased a pair of Lighting McQueen rain boots for my grandson and he loved to wear them when he was watering my vegetable garden.
Purchase a Watering Can – They make adorable watering cans specifically for children. They’re easy for them to grip and pour the water.
Gardening Gloves – Covering their hands while digging in dirt is a good idea. I’m a Master Gardener, and I wear them regularly.
Small Pots/Containers – Give them pots and containers that they can relate to. Giving a child a 10 gallon flower pot can be overwhelming. This can apply to raised beds and garden plots too.
I think it’s important for children to understand the land and how to grow your own food. We never know where the economy will take us, so we need to teach our children how to survive. Furthermore, we need to teach them how to save where they can.
So, here’s additional tips on how gardening with kids provides benefits:
- They learn how to plant flowers and vegetables.
- Children learn about nature when gardening.
- Children learn how food is grown.
- They learn how to nurture the food that their family will eat.
- Harvesting vegetables for the family gives them a feeling of importance.
- The learn about flowers and their beauty as well as purpose.
- Gardening allows them to watch the birds, rabbits, squirrels and more.
Another fun activity with kids is picking berries. If you don’t have a patch in your backyard, plant one. Until than check out your local farmer’s market. I suggest an early morning trip to the strawberry fields, it can get hot quickly in the wide open fields. My grandson loved picking strawberries. He knew that I was going to turn those red berries into strawberry jam. Besides jam, we also used the berries for ice cream and funnel cake toppings. Fresh berries are so good!
I hope my tips on gardening with kids has motivated you to spend some time in the backyard with you kids or grandchildren during a small garden project this summer. Planting carrots, flowers or a pizza garden are great ways to get your children involved.
