Kiddie Garden

Creating a kiddie garden with your children is a great way to get your children outside in the summertime. As an added benefit, allowing your kids to get their hands dirty is educational and can help them to learn about concepts such as photosynthesis, plant reproduction, ecosystems, and compost. Children are also highly tactile – they will love working with seeds, soil, and water. As plants grow, kids can touch them and enjoy the textures, scents, and colors. Your children will love being given the responsibility to nurture plants. The sense of pride they will likely feel in seeing their plants develop and grow will last a lifetime.

Planning Your Garden

If you don’t already have a garden of your own that you would like to use, you can involve your kids in the planning stages. You may find they have some creative ideas! It’s important to opt for a simple design, although you may consider making your garden a unique shape – perhaps a triangle, circle, or pentagon. Of course, the size depends on the amount of outdoor space available to you. If you live in an apartment, you may be working with potted plants instead. If your garden is large, create a path through it so that the plants are easily accessible. You may want to incorporate other elements, such as birdfeeders or birdbaths. Consider outdoor-themed crafts to make your garden pleasing to the eye.

Choosing Plants

Choosing plants that appeal to children may be difficult. You need to have a basic knowledge of plants, including the soil type, amount of sunshine, and the weather in your region. Your kids may be attracted to certain plants and it’s good to give them choices. However, keep in mind that you don’t want to discourage them by choosing plants that will require too much effort or time investment to grow. Low maintenance plants are an excellent option when starting a kiddie garden. Once your children have more experience with gardening and are willing to commit to caring for plants with needs, you can consider adding them to the garden.

Garden Supplies

Gardening with kids is impossible without the right tools. Every gardener should have the right tools to do the job – but some tools may be dangerous for children, especially young ones. Consider buying your child his or her own set of tools so that he or she won’t be fumbling with yours. Not to mention, if you both have your own set of tools you’ll be able to enjoy working in the garden together.

Caring for Your Garden

A garden can be a lot of work – planting, weeding, pruning, dividing, staking, to mention a few. Inspiring a love of gardening in your child means being enthusiastic about gardening yourself. It’s important to start small, too, with garden tasks that your child can feasibly do. The more time you spend in the garden, the more competent your children will become. Soon enough, they’ll be taking care of the garden by themselves!