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Flowers are not the only thing in the garden that blooms
and grows- kids do too. Sometimes they need to be reminded
of how much fun gardening can be, and sometimes we do too.
Unplug the family from the tvs, video games and computers,
and let them get their hands dirty as the sun kisses their
sweet faces. Together, you can turn the chore of planting
a garden into a family project full of memories, and get a
little exercise while you're at it!
Get them in on the garden planning.
Kids have great ideas when it comes to gardening (and
cooking for that matter!) They may come up with things you
never thought of. Have them draw a picture of what they'd
like in the garden, thumb through gardening books and
catalogs together, or take them garden shopping with you.
Give them a gardening area of their own.
Allow them to plant what they want, but also require them
to do the watering and weeding. Giving them control of
their little garden area also teaches responsibility and
cause and effect.
Give them large seeds to plant
Seeds such as squash, morning glories, beans and corn are
all easy for little fingers to handle. One of my happiest
memories in the garden was planting beans with Beau when
he was two. He couldn't reach where he needed to plant
from the garden walkway, so I picked him up, held him over
the spot, and he dropped the beans in. We laughed and
laughed. I doubt I could lift him that way now!
Give them a spot to dig.
When Beau was little, he'd sit out in the garden with me
for hours, as long as he had a place to dig with his
little bulldozers and dump trucks. Nothing ever grew
there, but he was so happy in his corner of the garden!
Make it fun!
Make a teepee out of sticks and plant red runner beans to
grow around the teepee. This makes a great kid hidout in
the summer (don't plant anything in the teepee- it will
get squashed beneath the kids!) Kids also love planting
sunflowers, and you can make a "sunflower house" by
planting the sun flowers with some space in the middle (a
circle or square pattern) and then adding a roof of sticks
once the sunflowers are big. Corn mazes are fun if you
have the room and the corn. Cut a maze into the maize (ha
ha) while the corn is young. By the time it grows big,
you've got a really cool pattern.
Name the plants
My kids love to name everything and anything. It adds to
the fun and makes it easier for them to relate to the
world around them. They'll name the insects they find-
we've had Hector the fuzzy caterpillar, Hoppy the
grasshopper, and a cast of supporting "garden characters"
over the years. This year my kids went one better- they
named the plants, or insisted on buying plants and seeds
with names. Among our garden stars this year are "Mr.
Stripey", "Lemon Boy" and "Big Boy". Anything without a
name soon got one. "Miss Pink" is the only tomato in the
garden that's a she. "Everyone" else is a "he". They now
refer to all of the plants as if they are people. It
definitely makes the garden more interesting! Beatrix
Potter, watch out!
Let them explore.
My oldest son Sean loves to watch the bugs. He'll pick
them up, examine them, put them in a jar and observe them,
then let them go. He and Beau can spend hours "hunting
bugs" in the garden and watching them. Connor prefers
butterflies, but hasn't learned that he is too short to
catch one yet.
Start some gardening traditions that include the kids.
We grow pumpkins every year and carve them up on
Halloween. We look forward to this- it's a lot of fun.
This year we're also growing birdhouse gourds. One year we
grew mini gourds of all sizes and shapes and painted them
for halloween. We made funny pumpkins, witches,
Frankensteins, and ghosts. What fun!
Keep the garden kid-friendly
Don't plant anything that could be poisonous if eaten,
particularly things such as castor beans. It only takes a
few to poison an adult. The beans are beautiful, but they
could easily be mistaken for a treat- by humans and
animals alike. And don't forget to pick up things they
could get hurt on- tools, discarded fencing, etc.
Protect the plants
Save yourself the energy it takes to remind the kids where
they can and can't go- show them with barriers and paths
in the garden. Make wide paths for them to walk easily in
the garden without falling on the plants (they still will,
but if the paths are obvious, there's a better chance
they'll keep to them). Protect your prized plants from
kids and animals by fencing them off, or growing them in
containers, away from the areas where your kids and pets
are bound to get into them (such as windowboxes).
Contributed by www.Frugal-Moms.com Inc.
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