I love fresh produce and I’ve been wanting to grow a garden for a couple years!!! The other day my husband brought home some flowers for me. Some were in full bloom and some hadn’t opened yet. When they did open, Lanae was so excited. It was then and there that I knew we had to grow one this year.
Growing up, my family always had a huge garden. Actually, we had several gardens. A large vegetable garden, an herb garden and numerous other flower and berry patches.
My mom was a Master Gardener. It’s a real thing! Gardening was one of her hobbies and I loved to help her in the garden.
Anyway, my kids love fruits and veggies and I miss having a garden. There is just something so magical about pulling a juicy ripe tomato off the vine.
So this summer, we are going to try for our first vegetable garden. All by ourselves, from the little itty bitty seeds.
Yep! That’s right, we’re planting the seeds so that our kids can experience the excitement of watching them grow from the very beginning.
In fact, we’re involving the kids in the process.
Tips for Starting a Garden with Kids
Tip #1. Gather your supplies… You are going to need some containers, starter soil, watering can or cups and seeds. If it’s all ready to go in one place, it makes managing the activity a whole lot easier. Make sure you are working in an area that is easy to clean. It was warm enough for us to go outside.
Tip #2. Give specific instructions and model… Show your child what to do and explain why before just turning it over to them. They will be much more successful after you model what you would like them to do.
Tip #3. Be patient… ’nuff said. They won’t do it perfectly the first time. Normally I’m the one that really struggles with things being perfect. But this time, my husband was helping Owen water the plants and kept getting frustrated that we was pouring too fast. It’s okay. Just enjoy the experience. I would definitely frown upon throwing the dirt and making a gigantic mess.
Tip #4. Have expectations and have fun… Remember, you are doing this for the experience. I would definitely frown upon throwing the dirt and making a gigantic mess. If they are trying to follow instructions, then you are good. If they’re not, you should probably just take a break and try again later.
Tip #5. Plant back-ups… After the kids are done helping, you may decide that you would rather be safe than sorry. In this case, you should probably plant some back-ups! Ha ha!
Don’t forget to label your plants. Check out these cute printables I created for plant markers!
Plant Learning Activities for Kids
Not only is this experience going to be exciting and hopefully fruitful. But I’m also hoping that my kids will learn a thing or two about plants during this process. So I rounded up some fun educational crafts, activities and science experiments that I plan to do with my kids.
1. Flower Experiment: This is so cool and shows how powerful plants are as they suck the water up their stems… which is a very hard concept to explain to a little child.
2. Garden Sensory Bin: Kids can be a part of the process, but with a garden, they have to follow very strict guidelines. A garden sensory bin allows them to experiment and play however they want. Love it!!
3. DIY Watering Can: I love the idea of making a “spill proof” watering can that the kids can use to water. And I think it would be so fun to let the kids personalize/decorate it!
4. What Plants Need Diagram: Making a diagram is a great way to show what plants need and is hands on if you let the kids help put it together. I plan on making ours into a puzzle so that she can see the shapes and figure out where things go on her own!
5. Shape Flowers: You could do more than just flowers and this activity could involve counting, sorting, imagination, fine motor skills and more! Love how creative you can be with this idea.
I hope that gives you some great ideas for getting your kids excited about plants this Spring!
Here are some more kids activities for this wonderful time of year:
Have a great day!
These are such great tips! We had some big tomato and basil plants last year, but this year Little J can help! Thanks for giving me some advice how I can get him involved!
It is such a fun process and it is so much more exciting when the kids are involved because they truly appreciate all the tiny details that we overlook. I love getting a kid’s view of things that I have loved in the past because it makes me love it even more!