Guide: Tips for Gardening with Your Kids

Helpful Tips for Gardening with Your Kids

It can be a lot of fun to garden with your family. Spending time together, walking about, and listening to nature is very beneficial for your kids. However, admittedly, young children helping you out in the flower bed or the vegetable garden can also be a bit stressful or chaotic. There are lots of benefits to getting kids in the garden, the initial stress is well worth it. Have no fear. Gardening does not have to be a chore for you as the parent. After surveying a handful of benefits of this activity for children, we'll discuss how to make the most of the process.

Benefits of Gardening with Kids

1. Motivates Healthy Eating 

Most kids would love to eat more fruits and vegetables if they grew it themselves with their time, energy, and work. By connecting your kids with the growing process, it's a real possibility they'll appreciate the food more when it appears on their plate.  

2. Nature Appreciation

Being outside and doing something productive can give kids more of an appreciation for the world around them and foster a better understanding of the ecosystem. Getting a little dirty in the garden intimately connects them with the earth. They can also learn about how natural science with hands-on activities.  

3. Reinforces Gratitude 

Most kids don't think about where their food comes from beyond, just knowing that their parents get it from "the store." When children put in the effort themselves to produce, they'll learn to be grateful for the hard work that goes into bringing food to the store for them to eat. 

4. Promotes Physical Activity 

Thanks to the world of T.V., phone apps, and the internet, lots of children spend all of their time indoors; there's plenty to do. Gardening creates an incentive to get outside and be useful while moving their bodies, walking around, and exercising muscles. 

Tips for Gardening with Young Children

Here are six tips for making gardening with younger kids more manageable for you and beneficial to everyone:

1. Keep it Simple

Keep gardening easy for the kids. Break complex tasks down into individual steps that your child can easily act on. Once they complete one, congratulate them and tell them what to do next.

2. Let them Lead 

Allow your little ones to be decision-makers and have some autonomy with gardening, even if they would normally require direction. Let them assist with picking the plants they'll grow and the jobs they'd enjoy most. Consistently encourage them as they take leadership in the process.

3. Provide Quick Gratification 

If your kids pick plants that will be ready to harvest in a few weeks' time, the fast turnaround may keep them focused and motivated. Long seasons of growth means, little gardeners may forget all about their plants. An option could be radishes, as they don't take long to grow. 

4. Educate with the Experience

Use the activity of gardening to teach your kids and make the whole process more exciting and worthwhile. Have conversations about how plants use energy, how they grow, or about why the seasons change. You will likely get questions. If you don't know an answer to a question, use this as a time to teach your kid how to research for an answer to a question.

5. Makes Sure it's Safe 

Set rules and boundaries for gardening. Let them know they can't eat any plant they want to eat without asking an adult and should wash it first. Be mindful of using chemical treatments, sharp tools, or anything else that could potentially harm a child if misused. *Caution: You should test your soil for lead because children are very susceptible to lead poisoning.

6. Have Fun

Especially for young kids, make it fun, not just a chore! Consider letting your kids invite their friends to share in the experience. Make contests like who can find the weirdest plant or dig the fastest. Grow some strange-looking plants to heighten the experience.

Gardening with Older Kids

Gardening with tweens and teens is a little different experience than gardening with younger kids. Here are four suggestions for involving your older children in the gardening process.

1. Let the Older Kids Guide the Younger 

Older children may serve as excellent guides and role models if you have smaller kids. Kids in high school and middle school can assist the younger ones in a variety of gardening tasks.

2. Be patient.

Children with little gardening experience might not have a lot of confidence in their own gardening skills, and they may not realize how exciting gardening can be. Be patient with them, and show them how that gardening can be a lot of fun!

3. Set Attainable Goals

If your kid is used to gardening, push them, and empower them to set new goals that require more time, effort, and skill. This way, gardening doesn't get boring for them.

4. Focus on Relationship Building

Gardening with your kids will help you develop better relationships with them. Ask them questions, talk about their week, learn more about their interests. Gardening is a fantastic way to connect with your kids, teach them new things, and motivate them to become better people. Plus, it could also help save you a lot of money!

Don't waste any more time, and get your kids outside and in the garden. Or hey, start with a container garden, that's what we did!