Today’s post is by Nancy Mann Jackson. Nancy writes about gardening for the whole family at GrowingFoodandKids.com.
Why Get Kids Gardening?
When you get kids involved in your garden, they’ll learn valuable lessons and begin forming important habits of caring for and appreciating the earth and (hopefully) eating nutritiously. But how do you get them involved and keep them engaged? Here are four tips for gardening with kids I’ve found to be helpful.
#1 – Answer Kids’ Gardening Questions
Maybe you’re tired of hearing the question, “Why?” But kids who are asking questions are kids who are engaged and interested. If you really want kids to learn and grow in your garden, answer their questions. Keep them interested by answering even the questions they don’t ask. Tell them why the seeds need to be planted so many inches apart, why you have to keep the weeds out, how long it will take for the little yellow flowers to turn into tomatoes. And if you don’t know the answer, look it up. Even better than teaching a child something new is learning something new with him.
#2 – Make Gardening Fun
While gardening is a learning experience, it shouldn’t be all business. Let kids choose their own favorite plants to cultivate, and let them get dirty. In a recent essay published in Vermont’s Times Argus, gardening writer Henry Homeyer writes about helping his five-year-old grandson plant his own garden, which included the boy’s choices: carrots, cherry tomatoes and snapdragons. “Gardening should be fun for kids, so I never asked him to weed,” Homeyer writes. “The weeds magically disappeared (with a little help from Grampy). If the soil got too dry, I watered if George wasn’t visiting. And I let him play with the hose when he did visit.”
#3 – Give Kids Garden Tools
I remember helping my parents and grandparents shuck and cut corn when I was a preteen, and my job was always to brush the silks off the corn after it was shucked and before my grandfather cut it off the ears to be blanched and frozen. Brushing was OK, but I begged for a chance to cut the corn with that big wooden-handled knife and watch the kernels slide down the ear into the bowl. They never let me do it. Some garden implements may be too sharp or dangerous for children, but when they’re interested in what you’re doing, why not let them give it a try? Of course, tools should be age-appropriate and there are plenty of cute garden tools for kids on the market. I’m not advocating that a five-year-old be given a butcher knife, but with adult help, kids can learn to do a lot of things. And when they’re interested and feeling challenged, that’s the time to get them hooked.
#4 – Let Kids Enjoy the Garden Harvest
My husband’s been known to pick an ear of corn off the stalk, peel back the husk, and take a bite right there in the dirt. And my kids love to sample ripe cherry tomatoes right off the vine. There’s nothing like the taste of just-picked food, so why not let kids sample it at its freshest? But don’t stop there. Serve your homegrown veggies at mealtimes, and if you have some left over, preserve it to eat throughout the year. Every garden helper should get to enjoy the fruits of their labors — and who knows, your pickiest eater may even relish the green beans that he helped harvest.
You can savor more of Nancy’s writing at GrowingFoodandKids.com. Visit her blog for tips, ideas and stories about gardening, harvesting, cooking and preserving with kids in tow.
If you enjoyed this you might like:
Related posts:
This is a really excellent post talking about great ways to get the kids engaged with gardening and nature. I especially like what you said about the garden harvest! Not only do they eat fresh, but they learn the patience of harvesting (something I need more of!)– thanks again for posting.
Great post, Nancy. It’s all about making things accessible to kids. If you invite them in and let them share your joy and excitement, they’re going to be interested. And if you shoo them away b/c they don’t do it right or get in the way, they’re not going to like gardening (or anything else, for that matter).