After a full quarter of a year of home schooling your kids and now in the middle of virtual summer camp with them, it might be a good time to encourage your kids to garden.
If you’re a passionate gardener yourself, you probably developed your green thumb under that tutelage of your mother. So, with the coronavirus pandemic continuing to require some kind of lockdown for the kids now is a good time to pass on the tradition.
Start Small
You don’t have to go crazy teaching your kids everything about gardening. People who have done this activity encourage you to start the process slowly. Keep in mind that your kids may lose interest if you feed them more than they can chew. Small and simple is probably the best way to start so that the little ones can keep up their concentration without being overwhelmed.
Start out with little projects like planting beans or sunflowers in cups and placing them on the ledge of a window that has a lot of sunlight. Water regularly and watch the plants grow. Expand the idea and grow a small window garden of flowers.
Or grow a tomato plant in a pot on your patio.
Keep the projects coming slow and steady and base them on teaching gardening basics including healthy soil, sunlight and water.
Choose High Interest Plants
The focus of the projects can be high interest plants. Encourage the kids to come up with the type of plants they want to grow. Perhaps your kids like to eat cherry tomatoes or a particular type of fruit. This way they learn where the things they eat come from. Moreover, tending to the crops through harvest will no doubt develop a sense of pride that they were able to complete a task through fruition.
Teach Them About Gardening Tools, Too
The process of gardening involves tools from shovels to spades and from trowels to tampers. Buy child size tools for the kids and teach them how to use them by example.
Teach Good Habits
As a gardener yourself, you know that the process includes consistency and skills. Teach the kids how to maintain and store the tools and encourage them to tend the garden using their tools.
Arrange Field Trips
Plan journeys to nearby farms and farmer’s markets with your children. This will help them learn exactly where food comes from.
Involve Them Into The Cycles Of The Seasons
Teach your kids about the cycles of the season. When and how to prepare to plant, planting, maintained plants during the growing season, and harvesting.
(Source: brighthorizons.com)
