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Gardening Ideas for Kids — When you are a parent, it is your duty to constantly look for new ways to entertain and educate your offspring. One of the things that you need to teach them at the very young age is the importance of our environment. Young children learn best in practice, which is why teaching them a bit of gardening may be a great idea.
Kid-Friendly: Gardening Ideas for Kids
Some people make a mistake of believing that building a garden their kids will like is enough. But it is always better to introduce them to the process itself. This way, you are also teaching them a practical skill they can use later in life.
This means that once you are no longer there to guide them, they will still have your knowledge, empathy and care to show them the way. Believe it or not, all of this can be achieved by exploring a few kid friendly gardening ideas and sharing them with your child.
Show Them the Practical Side
“Why” is probably the most common word in every kid’s vocabulary. This means that the first time you raise an issue of the importance of garden, they will start asking questions. In order to show them just how deep this connection between us and the nature goes, you may want to resort to a bit of a demonstration.
The easiest way to do so is to try and make a ‘taco garden‘ in your backyard. What this means is that you will personally grow most of the ingredients necessary to make a taco and your beloved child is going to be your lovely assistant.
You can start by planting some peppers, lettuce and tomatoes and having your kid help you out with it. These are all more or less simple to grow, but it will give your child a completely unforgettable experience. Here, they will get to see an entire process of seed growing into a plant under their caring hand.
Not only will this help them get a new insight on how our world works, but also demonstrate that as a human being, they can indeed make a difference. Moreover, this way you will be sure that the food you put on your child’s plate is completely organic, which is something you just can’t put a price tag on.
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Self-Sustainability
As a species, humans believe themselves to be the center of the universe, with all other things there just to serve them. That famous thought how tree falling in the forest with no one to hear it doesn’t make a sound, is completely preposterous.
It assumes that without us – animals, plants and natural occurrences make no difference. In truth, they were here long before us and will still be here long after we are gone. In order to show your kid why this kind of attitude is completely inadequate, you should try to build a garden that can take care of itself (at least for the most part).
What this means is that you should pick plants that are best suited for your climate conditions and soil type in order to help it become as self-sustainable as possible. Furthermore, you need to teach them that plants themselves have their own internal relationships.
Some work well together, while others act as natural enemies. Finally, if you have a pest problem, it might be best to try and find out if there are some plants that act as natural repellents. The last thing you want is to teach your child to use chemical compounds every time they have a problem in life.
Colors, Colors, Colors
Beauty has its own intrinsic value and this is something even the youngest child will know how to appreciate. Kids are known to love colorful things, which is something you could use to your advantage. A beautiful rose garden, a bit of lavender here and there, caladium, cannas and ninebark are just some of the plants you can use to achieve the desired effect.
Once again, you teach your kid how they can take something as small and unimpressive as a flower seed and transform it into something completely majestic. Even more importantly than a gardening lesson, this will be a life lesson they will never forget.
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Fairy Garden
Finally, you could also design your new garden to work as an extended playground for your kid. Here, you can help your kid make their own miniature forest, that will act as their own outside dollhouse. This part in particular requires a lot of creativity since you will need to find some real-life solutions that are as similar as possible to what your child wants.
Once again, it goes without saying that no matter what you do here, your child should take part in it. Being involved in such a project is bound to make their playing experience even more fun. What more can a loving parent do?
Garden Maintenance
Everyone knows that things like mowing a lawn, gathering leaves and pruning hedges are the oldest chores in the book. Even parents who don’t put much effort into gardening as a didactic method, assign these tasks to their kids. Unfortunately, this is not viable when it comes to very young children.
You see, most of these tools are simply too dangerous for a pre-teen. Which makes this particular gardening aspect rather difficult. On one hand you need your garden to be impeccable. But on the other you don’t have enough time to tend to this on your own. In this case, you should temporarily resort to gardening services, until your child is ready to take these tasks on.
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Conclusion on Gardening Ideas for Kids
To a lot of people, gardening is not a hobby – it is a passion. If you try too hard to make your kid fall in love with gardening, you will probably fail. Since it is in their nature to rebel against anything they are forced to do.
Yes, kids are spontaneous beings. And this means that you would have to find a way to use this spontaneity to help them adopt some of your values. Hopefully, some of the above-listed ideas on gardening ideas for kids will come in handy in fulfilling this task.
