Make Gardening a Family Activity: 10 Ways to Garden Together

**Collaborative post**

Children and gardens belong together. First of all, what kid doesn’t like to play in the dirt? The garden is an adventure for children. It’s the perfect place to let them have fun and not be afraid of failing sometimes. There are so many lessons learned in the garden. They aren’t planned, they just happen–and sometimes we don’t realize what we learned. Gardens teach math, science, nutrition, chemistry, and botany. Build a compost bin or a trellis, and you’ve taught your child some basic carpentry skills. Let them prepare a meal from the garden, and you have taught them to enjoy cooking or baking. Gardening is a life skill. Your children will know how to grow their own food. Gardening is meditative and stress relieving. It is a lifetime activity. Of course, if gardening is not your thing you can ask companies such as Stockton tree experts to help you.

Let your children join you in the fun of gardening as well as the work. Let them pick a rose from the rose bush and keep it in their room. Ask your child to pick the best tomato for their sandwich. Here are more ways to get the kids outdoors and in the garden.

Plan the garden.

Let your kids help decide what you will grow in the vegetable garden. By plant seeds online with them so they can pick specific seeds.. They could even have their own section of the garden that is theirs. Order the plants or seeds that they choose.

Make plant markers.

 While you are waiting for spring to arrive, spend an afternoon on a garden art project. Make markers for the vegetables that will grow in the garden. Depending on the age of your children, they can paint the sticks or print the names on the stick. Your labels could have a picture of the vegetable instead if you have someone with artistic talent. If your children will each have a garden, let them make a sign to identify their individual plot.

Start a library.

Buy some books geared to children that will help them identify the birds in your garden. There are also books that help children identify the insects they’ll see and whether it is a helpful bug or a pest. A book on the types of clouds and which ones signal rain coming is another great selection. A good butterfly book is another book that should be included–especially one that tells the story of the monarch. Of course, some good gardening books are essential. Include specialty books like how to prune roses or how to make a water garden. These will be great projects to tackle with the kids’ help.

Build a compost bin.

Ask the kids to help build a compost bin. This is a great opportunity for parents to introduce the kids to carpentry and how to use simple tools. Compost bins are easy to construct, even if you aren’t skilled. If you feel intimidated, purchase a barrel-type composter and let the kids help assemble it. This is a great way of saving money and recycling at the same time – you can find some other cheap gardening ideas here. 

Plant strawberries and raspberries.

Your kids will love gardening after they taste the fresh berries. If you have room, plant some blueberry bushes also. Remember that you won’t be able to pick fruit the first year, but the next year will be great. Hopefully, the kids will learn that good things are worth the wait.

Plant other seeds.

If your children are very young, start them planting larger seeds that they can manage, like beans and sunflowers. Make a hole for the seed to go in, let your young child put the seed in and then you cover it with dirt. As your children get older, they will be able to plant the seeds independently. Show the kids the seed packet and all the information they can find on it.

Make a “secret” hideaway. 

Use bamboo poles or trellising to form a little structure for the kids to play in. Plant pole beans or other vining plants around the base so the vine will cover the structure and hide the kids in their secret place.

Plant seeds that have a big-kid impact. 

Plant radishes so they get a quick result from planting. If your kids aren’t fond of radishes raw, try roasting them on a cookie sheet with a little oil and salt and pepper.  They sweeten as they roast and don’t have the sharp bite of a raw radish. Another good plant to grow is giant sunflowers. They can grow to 12 feet high or more. They’re so impressive and they are beautiful. Harvest the heads and make roasted sunflower seeds or use the seeds to make treats for the birds. Grow milkweed to feed the monarch butterfly in its larvae stage. You could even raise some monarch eggs indoors in a jar. Use an old fish bowl with a screen over the opening to keep them in the jar. Add milkweed leaves to feed the larvae until they form a chrysalis. As each one changes into a monarch, they can be released outdoors where you planted the milkweed.

Raise Backyard Chickens

Add life to your backyard with a flock of chickens. They’re low maintenance and are fun to have around your garden. Your kids will love feeding them in the morning, visiting their coop, and harvesting fresh eggs with egg cartons or trays all on their own. It’s a great setup to teach them responsibility, food sustainability, and the basics of poultry management—knowledge and skills they can use later on.

Take your kids to a botanical garden. 

Let your kids see what is possible in gardening. Let them see the flower gardens, topiary, and evergreen gardens. Show them how a garden can evoke a certain mood from excitement to tranquility.

Harvest the garden together.

Allow your kids to eat fresh from the garden. Encourage them to cook and prepare the food for dinner. If they are very young, they may have the job of tearing the lettuce or adding the cherry tomatoes to each salad. If they are older, they may want to prepare the meal with a little parental help when needed. Let them see the benefit of raising your own food. Don’t stop with the vegetables. Allow your kids to pick flowers also. Just a few flowers or a rose in a bud vase can be a great gift or brighten a spot in any room.

By including the children in the care and nurturing of your garden, they will consider gardening an adventure and fun that the family enjoys together.