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Gardening with Children

Gardening is an activity that isn’t limited by age. This means you can try gardening with children and possibly develop within them a live-long love of nature. What could be better than gardening for a gift that can last a lifetime?

One of the benefits of encouraging your child to join you when you’re in the garden is that you can talk about anything without feeling pressured. It could be something as simple as valuing the earth and protecting the environment, to more serious subjects such as life and love. Whatever you talk about, because you’re in a non-threatening atmosphere, you may find you’re talking about things that your children are concerned about most.

You’ll definitely want to encourage your children to give gardening a try if they show any interest in it at all. Don’t expect them to actually ask you if they can help; you may have to invite them to come join you while you’re in the midst of planting.

Let children use their imagination when planting or helping in the garden. They may imagine a tiny village behind the plants or in the rocks; maybe they’ll even try to create the village they imagine out of natural materials found in the garden. Since children often have vivid imaginations, let them run wild while you share time among the dirt and plants.

Children have short attention spans, so don’t become upset if they work a little while and then run away to do something else. You may want to find them work they can do in short periods of time. You may also want to buy them some child-sized gardening tools so they can accomplish more while they spend time with you in your work.

Teach them how to dig in the dirt so they can place plants into it. You may want to explain to them how the dirt provides the nutrients the plants need to grow and show them how to make the dirt healthier for the plants by using peat moss, sand, and compost. Explain the reason for adding these components and help them understand why they shouldn’t handle commercial fertilizers.

Perhaps after you’ve spent some time in the garden and are comfortable with your child’s knowledge, you might think about creating a small garden that is entirely the child’s. Remember that you want their experience to be a positive one and passing off too much responsibility too soon could squash their interest in the activity.

Your goal in inviting your child to join you in the garden is multi-faceted. You want to teach them about loving nature and natural things, to make light of the work needed in the garden, and to spend quality time with your child. Be sure to give your little helper a hug and hearty thank you for their help and let them know you enjoyed your time together.