Little kids love to dig, they love to do whatever the big kids or adults are doing, and they’re always ready to learn. It teaches responsibility, reasoning, cooperation, nutrition, a love for nature, understanding of cause and effect, and much more. Gardening is a perfect activity to enjoy with your children, no matter their age and spending time outdoors in the sunshine and fresh air is not only great bonding time, it’s great for their health, and yours too! Instilling the pleasure of growing flowers, fruit, or vegetables into your child is a joy they’ll take with them through their entire life.
Start by assigning a small patch of the yard as your child’s very own space. Discuss with your child how she or he would like to design their garden, discuss family gardening ideas, and what they would like to grow as their own contribution. Then, give your child their very own gardening tools. You can find a real working children’s tool kit, including shovel, spade, gloves, and watering can, and even gardening aprons, made just for their size. You can even find a kid’s leaf rake, kid’s soil rake, kid’s hoe, and even a kid’s cultivator, all pint-sized versions of the real thing.
Once your budding gardener has the tools he or she needs to get started, let the digging begin. Kids love to dig in the dirt and you can use this to your advantage in explaining how deep one must dig before dropping in a seed and covering it up. Use your family gardening ideas as time to teach your child. Explain how often a certain plant must be watered or why some plants need shade and some don’t. This is a great time to give your child a very basic lesson in photosynthesis. Talk to them about planting flowers that will attract butterflies or harmless Mason bees, explaining how pollination works.
As you teach and share family gardening ideas with your child, always remember to guide them in selecting the right tool and teach them how to garden as organically as possible. Always remember to impress upon your child how dangerous sprays and fertilizers can be and keep them out of their reach. Teach them to clean up their tools and where to put them when they’re not in use, and remember to explain sun safety, hydration, and sunscreen, and always supervise your child’s work in their garden. And, if your little one is still too young to help out, think about a fun, shaded, sandbox they can play in while you do your own gardening.