Kids in the garden are funny creatures. Although your kids may be too young to do many of the garden chores that need done it’s important to get them out there not only to learn but to get fresh air. Gardening is an invaluable educational tool because children can learn how to do things, procedures, why things are done a certain way, and all about the natural world. So what can parents do to get their children involved in the vegetable garden?
Five Activities Children can do in the Vegetable Garden
- Plant seeds. Sunflowers, watermelon, and beans are three easy to plant seeds that kids can plant. Generally anything that a child can easily handle and hold is perfect for planting. The older the child is and the better their finger dexterity is the smaller the seeds can be. Another strategy is to let them broadcast small seeds like basil or lettuce into an area.
- Harvesting: Once they know when to pick the plants (or have a parent to tell them) they can harvest nearly anything. My oldest daughter’s favorite vegetable to pick were the cherry tomatoes but she’s helped pick quite a few vegetables from the garden. Beans, tomatoes and squash are easy to pick but some vegetables like cucumbers might be better off left for the head gardener.
- Pull weeds: This works if you teach your child to ask before you pull. If not they might just end up removing a favorite heirloom veggie before you can stop them!
- Water: For some reason kids are inherently attracted to water. You can use this to your advantage if you get a small child sized watering can for them to float around with. Of course the odds are just as great that they will water a rock but don’t rocks look pretty when wet?
- Have Fun! I’m cheating a bit with this last one but really the most important thing kids can do in the garden is have fun! If they don’t enjoy gardening while young they may not enjoy it as they grow older. early influences are a profound impact on children and it’s always best to make a positive impression when learning.
What do you think? Do we enjoy gardening or what?
We DO! Although I hate to admit as a child/teenager, I hated working in my parents' garden, because it was work. Now, I love my little garden. Garden Punk doesn't love it much, however. Maybe when he's grown . . . .
I love to have kids in my garden. They are often the most interested ones and the ones with the longest attention span. My neices are 3 and they will spend hours watering if I let them. Your daughters are beautiful!
Dave- I added a link to vote for your arbor to my Facebook page and asked my friends to vote! I really hope you win the blog challenge, I vote daily.
I would say they are having a blast in the garden Dave. 🙂
That sure is some beautiful helpers you have, Dave. I too get my GGS's involved when they are over. I love the enthusiasm they have & the looks on their faces when they discover things. They have tilled {by hoe}, planted, harvested & eaten what they grew. Corn was the first veggie that the oldest grew when he was 3.
Watering is my girls favorite. Every time we go outside they ask to water. They also like to water me 🙂
my twins love the garden! The other day I told one not to step on a plant and he must of thought I said "stomp on that plant" cause he squashed it like a bug! It cracked me up too much to be mad! When we took them to the farm to pick strawberries, all my daughter did was pick and eat! Not much made it to the basket! This is a great year for introducing them to more gardening!
They are just toooo cute Dave!
Watering is the favoredkid gardening activity. That and hanging out with you.
Donna
As a child, our garden was a magical place! We kids would hide under the pole bean teepees from the cowboys! We used our imagination and to this day, each of my siblings have beautiful yards and veggie gardens! Growing up in the Garden was wonderful for us kids as it is for your children Dave 🙂