It’s Spring (finally!) and time to take the family outside. One of our favorite family activities is to plant flowers, watch the bulbs grow, and eat some of our hard work. Check out these Teaching your kids or grandkids to love gardening is easy with these resources.
Seed a Love of Nature
Kids love digging in the dirt. It’s a primal joy. So, why not teach them how to grow plants properly and create a love for gardening. If you have a green thumb, this is the perfect opportunity to share your knowledge and enthusiasm with your kids or grandkids and teach them how to care for their plants. They’ll love watching their gardens grow throughout the summer, and it might even encourage them to eat their veggies!
To make it a little easier to plan what to do with the kids, check out one of the new Spring 2011 PTPA Winners – The Budding Gardener Book by Gryphon Publishing. PTPA sent me a copy of the book to review and I thought it was a simple, fun, and creative resource to instill a love of gardening in your kids. There are 50 ideas for fun in the dirt so you are sure to find something for everyone. I really liked that they included both indoor and outdoor gardening ideas, so you can have fun all year long or still find fun ideas if you live in a more urban environment.
One of my favorite activities in the book is the Fishbowl Jungle. Your kids will love using a glass fishbowl, wet cotton balls, and garden pea seeds to create a jungle environment. It’s a fun way to watch seeds grow. Once they are grown, they can hide their army men or plastic animal toys in the jungle. There are some super-cute pretend play ideas where you can help your child create a flower shop out of a huge cardboard box. The book is easy to read and the activities are easy enough to implement in an afternoon or for even as little as a half an hour. For $9.95, you’ll definitely find enough ideas on how to have fun with your kids or grandkids while learning about gardening.
For more information on how to create a love of gardening with your kids, read my post on Gardening with Your Kids.
One Response to Teach Your Kids to Love Gardening
WOnderful I will check this out. We just planted 300 cells for our spring garden inside the other day and another 72 cells to do in a few weeks. The kids are so excited. This year we are going better then the last, and I cannot wait to pick all my veggies from my back yard.