Gardening for Kids – 6 Tips on How to Make Gardening Fun Today
Thirty years ago, children would spend the majority of their free time outside, playing in the garden and digging in the dirt. Children today are caught up with television, and video games, distracted by smartphones and other types of technology, they don’t spend any time outside and they definitely don’t play in the dirt!
Introducing your child to gardening will teach them important life lessons like patience and responsibility and the satisfaction, accomplishment and pride of growing things, whether beautiful flowers or vegetables. Just as importantly, it will give them a break from technology and provide them with some exercise.
1. Your garden – Responsibility for Kids?
The first hurdle is to get your child away from the electronics and outside. An excellent way to start is to give your child the responsibility of the garden, maybe to take care of some plants already growing or get your child to plant a seed or new plants.
2. Establish Their Garden Roles
Children need guidance and rules, so give them their roles and teach them what needs to be done, for example, their job is to water the plants, make sure the child knows how important the job is and they will feel a sense of importance for having such an important job. Make it part of the day’s routine.
3. Let Them Play In the Gardening Dirt
The majority of kids like to play and get dirty, letting them play in the dirt opens up a new world to them of different textures, so let them play and discover new things, just make sure they are not playing where you are planting!
4. Let Them Play With Bugs
It is very unlikely that there are dangerous insects or spiders in your garden, in fact allowing your children to play with different insects is a very valuable lesson. It allows them to find new things and develop exploratory skills on their own and also teaches them that insects are not something that they need to be afraid of.
5. Use the Plants for Practical Purposes
Kids can have a short attention span, so make sure there is something in the garden growing that you can look at every couple of days. For example, grow some herbs that you can cook with and your child can see there is an actual reason for growing plants, not just for decoration. You could incorporate cooking lessons, and use fresh herbs or fruits or vegetables that you have grown in your garden.
You can also grow flowers and get your child to use them to decorate your home.
6. Track Their Progress
One way of keeping your child’s attention is to track your progress. You can start a plant diary where your child can take time each day to measure the height of the plant, how many leaves it has or flowers, or if there are any other changes. You could even take pictures in the diary so your child can see the progress.
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