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2:00 AM 3rd June 2022
nature

12 Ways To Get Kids Involved In Gardening

 
Photo by Filip Urban on Unsplash
Photo by Filip Urban on Unsplash
Parents are being encouraged to involve their little ones in gardening activities this summer to introduce them to a fun hobby they enjoy in the fresh air.

Green-fingered experts at GardeningExpress.co.uk have put together their top tips tohelp make gardening more appealing for kids.

Among the suggestions are growing fruit and vegetables their children enjoy and cooking or preparing something from the produce.

Other tips include creating a flower of vegetable patch just for them, keeping a plant journal so they can log progress and carrying out some mini garden projects together.

In today’s society it’s more and more difficult to get the children outdoors, as they’ve got their smartphones, TVs and gaming consoles keeping them entertained in the house.

That’s why you might get a negative response when you try to get them involved in something like gardening.

However, gardening can actually be very fun and it gives children the opportunity to have hands-on experience growing their own favourite fruit and vegetables.

Chris Bonnett from GardeningExpress.co.uk said:
“Gardening is beneficial because it teaches children about responsibility, patience and shows them where their food comes from.

“It’s also fun because children can get their hands dirty and see something grow in front of their eyes that is a result of their own care and effort.

“We have put together some good tips for parents to help them get their children excited about gardening.”


Grow food they like to eat

Children can be picky about their fruit and vegetables, so it might be best letting them choose for themselves what they want to grow. This way it gives them a chance to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

DIY garden projects

There’s plenty of creative crafts to make your garden look more fun and funky. For example, you can paint your planters in colourful patterns or make garden markers by painting on stones.

Start with smaller projects

It’s best not to overwhelm the little gardeners with projects that might be a bit too difficult to handle. Consider starting off with a small patch in the garden and choose plants that are easy to grow, like lettuce, peas, radishes or onions. You can also find grow your own veg patch kits for kids.

Get them their own tools

Make your kids feel more independent by getting them their own gardening supplies. There are kids tools designed for even the littlest gardeners which will be easier and safer to use. Plus, they come in all kinds of different colourful designs and patterns..

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
Let them have their own space in the garden

Allow them to have a specific garden bed or veg patch that they can be in charge of. This way they can choose for themselves what they want to grow there, it won’t be too overwhelming to manage the smaller plot and they can proudly show off what they produce.

Create a plant journal


To keep track of all of the different plants in your garden it’s good to get a plant journal. Kids can use them to record what happens when their planted seeds grow into plants. You can make the journal yourself orfind a printable version .

Cook something together from the produce

A way to motivate the children to keep up with their gardening chores can be to plan a fun family cooking session using the vegetables and fruitthey’ve grown themselves.

Involve their friends in the process

You can turn gardening into a social activity by including their friends in the project. For example, their friends could come over to work together on some chores in the garden and have a playdate. They could also compare how their plants are growing and share the responsibilities.

Read gardening books to them

There are many children’s books about gardening, plants and nature which might get kids more interested in spending more time outdoors and wanting to do some work in the garden.

Get a sprinkler for summer

Combine watering your plants and entertaining the children with fun water games by purchasing a sprinkler. Leave it on and it’ll cross watering off your to do list and at the same time it’ll also give the kids an opportunity to cool themselves while playing in the water.

Set up fairy lights in the garden

What could make a better atmosphere on a summer evening than some nice fairy lights hung up in the garden? This could give the children some motivation to do their daily plant watering on those warm summer evenings.

Have fun!

Gardening comes with all kinds of different responsibilities and some of them might be quite mundane.Take on those tedious tasks and let them do the fun bits.


https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/