The story below is from our July/August 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Spend quality time with your kids and improve that green thumb in your backyard garden? It’s a win-win for everyone!
Instilling an appreciation for the natural world and the earth we live in starts in our own backyards. Gardening is an accessible, magical way for kids to learn not only how to nurture and care for plants but also to practice patience, to care for the earth and to develop a respect for living things.
Depending on their ages, developmental stages and your own gardening skills, there are a number of ways to engage children with your own natural resources. With a mix of traditional garden tasks, some crops that are easy for kids and creative ideas to help kids of all ages feel welcome and interested in your outdoor space, here are our 50 ideas to try today!
- Start a compost pile that kids can take scraps to and help turn over every so often. When it’s ready, they can scoop the compost into the garden plots!
- Preparing plots can be a great time to invite young kids to come dig and rip out weeds and old dead plants.
- Use a compass to learn which direction your garden faces and how to plant for the best success.
- Draw a plan of your garden and make decisions about where everything will be planted together. Let them color the plan.
- Use muffin tins to stamp ready-to-plant soil and make it easy for kids to plant out seeds.
- Set up a water table or mud kitchen for very young kids to play in while you work in the garden.
- Grow new vegetables from grocery scraps: lettuce, green onions, beets and more can be put in a shallow cup of water near a windowsill. Once green shoots start to grow, transfer to a pot or into your garden.
- Save cardboard egg cartons to grow seeds in. These are easy for little hands to help transplant outdoors once the frosts have passed.
- Got a kid who loves to rip up grass? Invite them to a weeding party!
- Start a container garden in a fun vessel, like an old plastic swimming pool or a large dump truck.
- Grow your green beans up poles positioned into a tent to create a magical (and edible!) hideout.
- Paint flat rocks to decorate your garden (paint to look like strawberries for a patch that tends to get birds!).
- Cut holes into a plastic milk jug lid to make an easy DIY watering can.
- Let your kids crush egg shells to add to plant fertilizer for extra calcium for your tomatoes, red peppers and more.
- Grow sunflowers! These are fairly easy growers, can get to be delightfully tall and are very fun to harvest for seeds. Their dead stalks are also perfect for imaginary sword fights.
- Have a label-making craft party! Use popsicle sticks, wooden stakes or whatever weather-proof items you have on hand and help the kids draw or write the labels for your plants.
- Create a fairy garden to add some whimsy to your plants and invite young kids to feel welcome. Flip little pots upside down and paint to look like houses to get started.
- Grow cherry tomatoes, strawberries and other high yield crops that encourage little hands to pick and eat right off the vine. It’s much easier to get a kid to eat a plant they grew!
- Plant a wildflower mix that will attract butterflies and keep a log of all the butterflies they see.
- Plant zinnias, which grow new blooms for every one cut.
- Grow herbs and edible flowers for sprinkling on their dinner plates.
- Make a dino garden with succulents and rocks.
- Put watering the garden on the chore list.
- Put deadheading spent flowers on the chore list.
- Teach kids how to pinch off new growth of certain plants or flowering on herbs.
- Take progress photos of your kids with their gardens throughout the summer, then print them out and put them into an album.
- Make bird feeders together and have regular bird watching dates.
- Encourage your kids to draw the plants, insects and animals they see into a journal. Bonus for labeling all the parts they see!
- Bring a picnic blanket and books about gardening and the seasons to learn about everything around you together.
- Be sure to save any kiddie pool water for watering the plants – this is a great way for young kids to fill watering cans themselves.
- If you have the space for it, grow a watermelon or pumpkin plant.
- Make a bug hotel.
- Make a moss alphabet or write out their name in moss on a sidewalk or wall.
- Save and sprout seeds from food they eat: avocado pits, apple seeds, bell peppers and more.
- Set up a section of garden that very young kids can call their own – a patch of earth, a bucket, a small raised bed, anywhere they can practice using tools, pouring water and touching. With or without planting!
- Have older kids plan a succession garden so that new waves of flowers or plants are always coming in.
- Make a pizza garden! Plant ingredients that can be harvested for a fun family pizza-making night.
- Set up a trail cam to see any critters that come nibbling at your garden in the night.
- If you have excess harvests, research some giving options in your area and go together to donate the food.
- Look up recipes for your garden yields and cook together!
- Let your kids arrange their own cut flower bouquets and put them somewhere visible in the house.
- Conduct a science experiment by testing strawberry results grown from store-bought seeds, from seeds you dry yourself and from strawberries you plant. Have your kids make notes and devise their own hypothesis!
- Let older kids test different methods of preparing soil and fertilizer methods to see which produces the best tomatoes, flowers or whatever they are most excited about.
- Can or freeze some of your food together to enjoy all year long.
- Dry or press some of the flowers they grew as keepsakes.
- Make flower crowns or greenery wreaths with older kids.
- Use an instant camera for the kids to document their garden, and keep notes in a journal to reference and plan for next year. This is a great way to document what went well and what didn’t (and also a wonderful keepsake for you!).
- Look up sunflower festivals or lavender farms to plan a magical family field trip together and get inspiration for your own garden.
- Visit a farmers market and ask if they are open to the public. Schedule a visit!
- Encourage your kids to write out questions to ask the farmers at the market. Celebrate every little win: making something grow is a big deal!
Remember to plan for trial and error, for a mix of successes and failures and for your kids to get dirty. With the right mindset, gardening with kids can be a powerful way to bond and build memories together, not to mention a love and appreciation for the earth around us.
The story above is from our July/August 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!