If you’re looking for an engaging outdoor activity that allows the whole family to participate, consider a family garden. From selecting your vegetables and flowers, preparing the earth and planting, and finally harvesting, gardening can be a wonderful way to involve your children in a healthy hobby you can all enjoy.
Gardening with kids can be fun, educational and refreshing; but did you know that it is also full of sensory benefits; which all children can benefit from. As children grow and develop, sensory experiences help them make connections and make sense of the world around them. You can read all about sensory play here!
Here’s a few ways gardening with kids can encourage sensory connections:
A. Carrying, Lifting and Pushing Encourages Proprioceptive Sensory Input
“Heavy work” is a common part of gardening. Did you know that just by carrying that bag of dirt with you, your child is getting a sensory benefit? Of course, you want to watch and monitor your children carefully and only give them weight they can handle, but the possibilities are endless.
Other activities your LO can partake in to encourage Proprioceptive Sensory Input are:
Help push the wheelbarrow Help carry away large sticks Carry pots and bags of dirt from one garden bed to another Shovelling Pulling a trash can Digging in deep holes
B. Textures from the Plants, Dirt and Sand Encourage Tactile Sensory Input
The garden has endless opportunities for hands-on experiences to foster learning and encourage children to process their world through touching, feeling, comparing, and observing.
Activities your LO can partake in to Encourage Tactile Input:
Feeling and rubbing a variety of plant parts Seed sorting Scooping and pouring dirt Planting seeds to encourage fine motor development Squeezing, sifting and rubbing dirt Creating mud with dirt and water Writing in the dirt with their fingers Harvesting vegetables and fruit
Picking the flowers
GARDENING WITH CHILDREN HELPS FOSTER:
We all benefit from gardening, but children in particular benefit from the added fun and hands on learning experiences. They benefit in various ways, for example:
1. Healthy Eating: Children are invested in the vegetables that they plant and care for and are more likely to eat them.
2. Appreciation for Science: Gardening offers kids a hands-on way to learn how plants grow and where the food comes from that we eat. They also learn how the weather affects the growth of their plants; sun, wind, storms, and drought.
3. Responsibility: Kids need to keep the garden weeded and watered in order for their seeds and plants to grow.
4. Patience: This is a hard one even for me. I am ready for fresh salsa, cucumber salad, and fresh tomato slices now. It’s hard to wait weeks for the things we love to grow. Seeds take time to germinate and sprout. Plants take time to grow and produce fruit. Along with the fun of getting dirty, gardening helps children learn valuable lessons about patience as they wait for vegetables to grow, responsibility as they see how necessary their care is to the garden, and even loss when flowers die at the end of a season. “They learn about nurturing a life and what it takes to keep something alive,
5. Bonding: Gardening is a great activity to do as a family working side by side for a common good.
6.Physical Activity: Children are outdoors when they are gardening soaking up Vitamin D and getting physical by digging holes, pulling weeds, and watering.
7. Self-confidence: Being able to say I grew that particular vegetable gives children a boost to their self-confidence.
8. Sense of Community: Gardens offer a great opportunity to teach kids about helping other and giving back. It can be as simple as giving excess produce to your neighbor or the elderly couple who live down the street.
9. Encourages curiosity: A child is attracted to tiny objects. A garden is a wonderful place for little treasures of all kinds. Rocks, seeds, insects, leaves, petals, or snails will all provide hours of enjoyment. This curiosity about small items might also explain why your child might pull the petals off some of your daisies, fill both pockets with worms or be tempted to investigate animal droppings. It serves all parties well to develop a strategy for explanation rather than admonition. A trip to the library might uncover a book about the needs of plants or animals. Children of preschool age are far more interested in reality than many adults give them credit for. Understanding their immediate environment better will empower them with a sense of responsibility and stewardship.
10: Vocabulary: your pre-schooler is eager to learn new words. As you work outside together, talk about what you are both doing. Name the seeds you are planting, the tools you are using, the birds you are hearing, the insects you are unearthing and the fragrances you are smelling. A young child will absorb many of these words just by hearing you use them in conversation. Furthermore, the conversation itself will foster emotional connection to a place you love and want to share with your child.
Some additional useful tips:
Once you’ve decided where to let your children garden, it’s time to decide what to plant. Plant crops that are hearty enough to succeed and don’t require unusual care. A good gardening book, and even the back of seed packets should answer questions about growing habits of plants, the soil and nutrition needed, and proper watering. If you are worried your little one will lose patience waiting for plants to sprout, you can plant seedlings, or radishes (they spring up in a few days), or you can purchase flats of vegetables or flowers ready to put in the ground.
Get your Little Ones involved from the very beginning. Let kids have their own spot. If they want to toss 10 seeds in one hole, let them and they will see what happens. Let them learn from the experience.
Dress your kids in a hat and gardening clothes (meaning anything you don’t mind getting dirty) when it’s time to plant, weed, water or pick. Take your time with the kids and remember that a young child’s attention span may wane sooner than yours. Kids love digging in the dirt and will benefit from having their own gardening gloves and equipment. Child-sized tools are great if you can find quality tools.
It’s also good to keep any sharp, pointed tools from small children. Set the rules about tool safety up front; don’t swing any tools around, anything sharp should be pointed down.
The child’s play is his/her work, in which he/she needs to refine all the muscles of the body through movement of all kinds. A preschooler might be interested in the idea of helping a parent pull weeds but will be equally if not more interested in making holes, mixing mud and jumping in puddles just for the sheer process involved in doing so. This is healthy, normal, and requires lots of old clothes that can take the wear and tear.
Gardening can be a wonderful family project filled with adventure, experimentation, and learning; and children love to learn when they’re having fun. Not only will your kids enjoy the satisfaction of nurturing life, but they’ll love spending time with you.
Happy gardening!
Love & Light,
Oby O
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