How do we get kids interested in gardening? The trick to instill your love of the outdoors and gardening into your children is to start when they are young. It might be hard to imagine entrusting your more precious and delicate plants to the inexperienced hands of a toddler. Likewise, you may not want to leave the watering schedule up to a forgetful and preoccupied teen. That might not be an issue with a hardy geranium like Rozanne®, but other plants may not fare so well. However, there are plenty of other fun garden activities you can get your kids involved in. Give them fond memories of working the dirt with mum or dad. At the same time, plant a love of gardening in their hearts!
Here are a few tips to help get kids interested in gardening:
Put Kids on Label Duty
If your youngster wants to help you in the garden, consider letting him or her label plants. Chalk paint covered sticks and other crafty garden labelling ideas make it fun and easy for them to help you keep track of what’s what.
Let Them Dig!
Your children aren’t quite ready to care for your most delicate plants. However, they sure love to help. Children love to dig in the dirt and get dirty. As an added bonus, studies show that children who play in the dirt tend to become healthier adults, when compared to their clean and tidy peers.
Draw Your Layout and Let them Colour it
If you have a budding artist in the family, encourage that artistic expression by funnelling it into your own creative endeavours. Get on your favourite gardening app and create the landscape of your dreams. Print out your design and let your little picasso colour it in.
Give Them Their Own Plot
Donate a small section of the garden to the children. Let them plant radishes, which germinate quickly and are fun to watch grow, or cherry tomato plants that have an added reward in sweet, bite size snacks. Encourage them to water regularly. You might be surprised at how responsible little people can be when they really take ownership of a living, growing thing.
