Gardening: Back to Basics with Children

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Children need to experience simple pleasures. It is good for children to have fun without being in a room full of toys. It is even better when they have fun with their parents.

Children naturally love “adventures.” They are good at using their imaginations. “Imagination” skills are not used while watching television. Being outside in the fresh air and sunshine is healthy for a child’s mind and body. Children do not get fresh air and sunshine while playing video games.

Gardening allows parents and children to spend time together outdoors. They see plants and flowers, find bugs, and chase butterflies. They can even eat the vegetables that they planted.

• Planting a garden is easy and cheap.
• Find a gardening book at the local library. The Chatham Library in Illinois suggests: The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin, Planting A Rainbow by Lois Ehlert, Ready, Set, Grow: A Guide to Gardening With Children by Suzanne Frutig Bales.
• Start small. Use window boxes or pots. Cut off the tops and clean bleach and milk containers. Use them as planters.
• Choose a small patch of ground in the backyard and let the kids dig.
• Find some “child-size” tools for digging and planting. Plastic spoons and sand shovels will work well when planting in pots.
• Let the child help choose and grow a variety of plants. Flowers come in many different shapes and colors – zinnias, marigolds and petunias. Children will like eating small cherry or grape tomatoes and green beans.
• Plant a sunflower and watch it grow taller than the child…..and the parents.