Making Gardening Fun for Kids

Spring has sprung!  Although it doesn't feel like it here in Michigan, Spring is well under way and it has me thinking about gardening.  My love for gardening developed from all the time spent gardening with my mom when I was little and now I have the opportunity to pass that on to my kiddos.

Over the past couple years, since the kids have been old enough to help out in the garden, we've found some fun ways for them to help out that I'd like to share...

Fun Ideas for Kids in the Garden:

1. Have the kids help plant!  Kids love to play in the dirt, so let them!  Show them how to dig the holes for each plant and how to gently pack the dirt around them.  Have them help plant seeds too!  They'll learn what an inch (or 3 or 6 inches) looks like and just generally learn about spacing.  Also, it's pretty cool to see the tiny plants pop out of the ground later and know that they helped!

2. Have the kids water the garden.  ALL kids seem to love to play in water!  When it's 90 plus and they need to cool off, they might as well water the garden too!  Just be sure they do it when the sun is setting, so they don't burn the plants by getting water on the leaves.

3. Make a game out of weeding.  Weeding seems to be one of the most tedious parts of gardening, but not when the kiddos are helping!  Put one kid at the end of each row and let them race to see who can pull all the weeds in their row first.  (Make sure to point out what the veggie plant looks like before they start!)  If your kids are like mine, they LOVE to compete anyway! ;-)

4. Give the kids their own garden.  If you have a little extra space in the garden, mark off a spot for the kids.  Maybe give them a couple extra seeds or some flower seeds.  They will love having their own garden and it'll give them something to work on and to be proud of.

5. Plant veggies and fruits that the kids enjoy eating!  Over the next several weeks I'm going to go into detail on specific things we plant that the kids love to help with, but not necessarily love to eat.  (My kids are picky!)  Planting fruits and veggies that the kids love eating, though, is a great start to making gardening fun!

Stay tuned over the next couple months to read about specifically fun veggies to plant for the kids!