Kid’s Gardening – How to Get Your Kids Interested

Posted by Cathy England
August 31st, 2009
Filed in Savory and Sage Tidbits
Tags: Children, gardening, gardening with children

It may be difficult to imagine your kids gardening or even interested in it.  They cannot even feed the puppy that they begged for 6 months ago.  Interested or not, it can be of benefit to at least talk to your children about your love of gardening, and why you do what you do.  Children may need to be coerced at first to peel away from the television or video games, but once they become engaged, there may be no stopping them.

If you are starting this with very young children, the task may be less difficult.  Toddlers and preschoolers are extremely curious by nature, and constantly wanting to learn new things and take on new challenges.  Gardening with a toddler?  Impossible.  Expecting a preschooler to be responsible for a small garden area? Disaster.  While both of these scenarios are possible, it is also quite possible that engaging children in the garden will be an invaluable experience for both of you.

Reasons to Get Kids Gardening

• Kids need to experience nature - Richard Louv, author of  “Last Child in the Woods“, gives compelling evidence and argument to the fact that in our technology-focused world, children no longer go outside and experience nature in an unstructured way.  He links this to the rise in childhood obesity, depression, and ADHD.  Getting your kids out in the garden can be a great way to inspire fascination and curiosity about the natural world around them, and the importance of being a good steward of the Earth.
• It can teach responsibility – If children are given a small plot in the garden and allowed to plant the items that interest them, they may feel a responsibility to maintain those plants.  This may require due diligence by the parent at first, to ensure that their children are meeting that responsibility, but once the habit of garden care is established, it may begin to flourish.
• Teaching moments – If gardening is important to you, then it may already be important to your child.  Ensure that children understand why it is important to garden, and why organic practice is the best practice.

Ideas to Inspire Children to Get Growing

• Start early – If your children are very young, you may well be served by allowing them into the garden, even if at first this causes more headaches than benefits.  Young children are naturally curious, and early exposure to gardening will likely cause them to explore this curiosity as growing seasons come and go.  Further info here
• Educate your children – We all have a desire to understand why we are doing something, and talking to children about self reliance, food miles, organic practices, and benefits of using gardening to be “eco-friendly” may further pique their interest.
• Buy children their own tools – There are various kid-friendly gardening tools on the market.  These range from small plastic, toddler friendly, watering cans and trowels, to functional metal tools similar to your own tools, but in more manageable kid sizes.  Make sure that children understand how to take care of their tools carefully, and how that they can prevent the spread of disease by cleaning tools properly at the end of a season.
• Start with small tasks – Perhaps it is not the best idea to plow up a plot, buy plants, and set your kids to being responsible for the success or failure of their gardens.  With very young children, it may be best to let them play in the garden while you work in the garden.  From my own experience, one easy way to engage my two year old was to place compostable material in his bucket, and send him to dump it on the pile.  Aside from one confusion between my raised bed, and the compost pile nearby, this has been a task that he understands, and takes pride in being able to do.  It also keeps him from stomping innocent plants that have done him no harm.
• Allow older children to choose – If your child hates vegetables, but loves flowers, do not fight that instinct.  Encourage them to plant at least one edible of their choosing, but allow them to grow flowers as well.  Teach them the benefit of having flowers nearby a garden in order to attract beneficials, or to distract harmful pests.
• Celebrate victories – If your child grows lettuce, radish, and onion in their garden, and there are actual fruits to their labor, celebrate this by helping them to make a salad for the family to share.  If their tomato plants result in a bumper crop, teach them how to preserve this crop for use later in the year.

Ultimately, there are more benefits to having children in the garden than there are drawbacks.  Take any glimmer of interest that your child may show, and seize upon it before the moment is lost.  If you find after all of this, that your child is just really not that interested or committed, let it go for now, lest they do it just to please you, and not because they enjoy it.