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7 Ways To Get The Kids Involved In Gardening and Love It!

Every gardening parent wants to include and get their young ones involved with their hobby. However, kids are born with a genuine interest in things, and maybe gardening is not included in it.

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The good thing is children are easily driven when they are being enticed into something such as they can play with the mud, plant whatever they like, or spend the afternoon playing in the garden. But aside from gardening moms and parents' interest in getting their children involved in gardening, children can learn a lot when they start to tend a plant and grow them.

If you're a gardening parent and you're still hesitant in pursuing teaching your kids to involve themselves in gardening, let these techniques help you sort things out. And watch as your kids develop their interest and actually love gardening day by day.

Helpful Techniques In Getting Kids Into Gardening

Kids are sometimes unruly and quite a handful when it comes to outdoor activities such as gardening. But you can use that energy to make them do things where they can develop their personality and grow interested in planting.

#1 - Start Small and Simple

watering-flower

You don't need a large yard to introduce gardening to your kids; you can start with a small lawn. You can set a separate and exclusive area on your lawn just for your kids only, or you can create a boxed lawn dedicated only for them to work on. Whichever of the two works, a 3x3 lawn area is already good for starters.

Tip: Bringing your kid on a morning routine of checking your garden is a perfect starting point in introducing them to gardening. You can ask them to do the watering of plants as their daily task.

#2 - Let Your Kids Pick What They Want to Plant

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Kids' interest in plants may vary depending on several factors. Some young girls, for example, have an innate interest in flowers while young boys are into fruit-bearing plants, but that depends on the kid's natural interest in things.

The most vital thing you need to do is to introduce different plants. If you already have flowering plants in your garden, you can bring them and have them take a look. Or you can bring out books of different fruit-bearing plants and show them the pictures. This way, they will have a vision of what to look forward to when they start planting.

#3 - Get Creative During the Entire Process

little-girl

Kids can get easily bored, especially when gardening is all about planting. But apparently, it is not! Gardening can get you to be creative. Introduce your kids to painting pots, boxed lawns, and decorating the birdhouses. All these activities can spark interest in them, especially when they are given the liberty to experiment and be creative as much as they want to.

#4 - Live Bird Cams Can Come in Handy

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As we have mentioned before, gardening is fun, and kids will surely love it, especially when they experience watching a live feed of a live bird cam. Nothing amazes kids more than watching birds of different species up close and personal. Consider installing garden webcams for watching birds in your garden and get your kids to monitor it. This experience will spark their interest as it brings out more of their curiosity to another level.

#5 - Give Them the Right Tools

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Just like any other gardener, young gardeners should come in prepared and equipped with the right tools. That means your kids should also have the right tools they can work with. They might get curious about using large shovels at one point, but giving them their own set of tools can make them feel they are being trusted in doing things on their own.

Tip: You can paint the tools with their favorite colors and give them personalized gardening gloves. This will excite them more to do the activity.

#6 - Assign Them Specific Gardening Tasks

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Children develop a sense of responsibility when they are entrusted with tasks that they can do unassisted. To practice this character, you can even assign them specific gardening tasks they can do daily. You can give them the task of watering the flowering plants every morning and make sure to pick up falling leaves in the afternoon. You can amp these activities by rewarding them for a job well done.

#7 - Harvest Crops or Trim Flowering Plants With Them

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Kids want results as much as adults. They want to see the endpoint of their gardening activities, and since they are just getting started, they are agitated about what happens next after they have planted their first seed. To resolve this, you can bring them when it's time to harvest crops or trim flowering plants you already have in the garden.

They get to see what is the result of the seed they have planted, and this will pique their interest in making sure to tend and take care of them until they bear fruit or grow a bud. Kids are visual-oriented individuals. Make sure to present them with images that will keep their interest in gardening.

Gardening Benefits for Kids

Besides growing plants, gardening for kids offers many benefits that they can carry throughout their childhood and even foster when they grow up. Here are some gardening benefits your kids will develop the moment you start introducing gardening to them.

  • Responsibility
  • Love for nature and the environment
  • Compassion
  • Self-confidence
  • Health and nutrition-conscious
  • Literacy skills
  • Cognitive development
  • Creativity
  • Sensory stimulation
  • Locomotor and body movement skills

Final Thoughts

Getting the kids involved in gardening at an early age might be messy, overwhelming, and a handful. But at the end of the day, the kids get to enhance and develop great personal and character development. Gardening with kids is a fun activity, but at the same time, it molds kids to be better individuals at an early age. Plus, it's a good bonding moment for the entire family.

About the Author Laura Bennett

Hello, I’m Laura Bennett. I love nature especially when it comes to flowers and different kinds of plants. I started a very small garden behind my house and I named it Humid Garden. So, I created this blog to provide aspiring and inspiring thoughts about gardening for gardeners and anyone who has the intention of keeping a garden.

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