Avant Gardener: Getting kids in the garden

  • Kyle Valentini
  • February 2, 2011
  • 298
                        
When we were children most of us came home with a small seedling in a Styrofoam cup or a cottage cheese container. We were instructed on how to plant the seed, making a small hole in the soil with our number two pencil. We gently placed the seed in the hole, covered it, watered it and set our cup next to all the other cups on the window sill of our second grade classroom. In a week or so the seeds began to sprout. Little green first leaves opened and leaned toward the available light. In a few more weeks the little cups came home with us and we presented them to our moms who took over the care of the now nice sized plant. For some of us that experience was soon forgotten and we never made another hole in soil with a number two pencil again. For me that experience was just the beginning of a lifetime of loving to grow things, things to eat, things to admire and sometimes just things to cover up that bare spot where nothing seems to want to grow. Getting kids to enjoy the garden can be tricky. Some kids see it as work and would certainly rather be inside playing games in front of a screen with moving pictures. Even the kids who like getting a little dirt under their nails might be apprehensive to help in the garden if all it is going to produce is lettuce and broccoli. Let kids make decisions about what to plant and where to plant it. Designate an area as the children’s garden. There need not be rules or rows or structure of any kind. It can be a wild, rambling place where beans grow high on a makeshift tee pee and daisies and zinnias flourish as they would in a field. As adults we tend to want structure in the garden. It allows us to care for our plants in a more orderly fashion with the end result being food for the table and the canning cupboard. Children don’t often see structure as an importance until they get a bit older. In the children’s garden toy trucks and dolls find a place to vroom and a place to picnic with the teddy bears in the neighborhood. Bugs become monsters and butterflies become majestic winged creatures that carry secrets to other gardens in the world. Kids need tools to tend to their gardens. Size appropriate gear is a must when encouraging kids in the garden. A full size shovel is likely a source of injury to a child who needs to dig a trench. A full size wheel barrel will never work to get the rocks from the driveway to the garden. Kid sized tools are available and can be found to be well made. Teach kids how to care for their tools so they last. Let them have a sand-filled five gallon bucket of their own to keep tools clean and dry. Working alongside your child in the garden, they are sure to learn a little something. When they see the harvest coming in they will be just as excited as you are to rush in, wash the vegetables and prepare the first salad of the season. Working alongside your child in the garden will also allow you to learn a little something, perhaps something from the majestic winged creature who carries secrets to all the other gardens in the world.


Loading next article...

End of content

No more pages to load