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Great Gardening Ideas To Share With Kids
by Dominic Weidman
http://www.iamgardening.com
This is not your typical how-to article. I'm not going to
share with you a step-by-step tutorial on which plants work
best for kids, or how to line up the rows so little feet
don't trample the plants. There are hundreds of other places
that you can find those tips.
By bringing your children into the garden, you'll be
starting them on a lifelong love of nature and helping
things grow. Gardening is full of 'teachable moments'. The
slow pace of working the earth invites conversation and
introspection, and offers opportunities for imparting your
beliefs and philosophies and knowledge in a natural, matter-
of-fact way that will do far more than all the lectures in
the world.
One spring morning, I looked out my window and couldn't bear
the sight of that trash strewn, weed-choked lot another day.
I tackled it with a pair of gloves and a new box of trash
bags. In less than an hour, I had a garden full of kids
begging to help.
Let your older children 'help'. What's work to you is still
exciting play to them. Let them cordon off a piece of the
yard with twigs and twine, and hand over a set of kid-size
plastic tools to dig. To make it a little easier, you can
loosen the ground a bit beforehand with a spade or fork.
On a spring afternoon, when they get home from school, be
out in the garden with spade and pitchfork. Pick out a patch
of ground with a 5 year old and help him mark it off with
twigs and string. Give your two year old a plastic shovel
and a corner of his own to dig. Ignore the dirt. The nice
thing about kids is - they wash up pretty.
Rise early each morning and go right out into the garden so
they learn early where to find you. Be sure you ooh and ahh
over the first tiny seedling that sprouts in their patch,
and show them how to mark it. You don't have to tell them
yet that it's a weed. Children don't know from weeds. To
them, a dandelion is a miracle of intricacy - and isn't it?
The funny thing about gardening with kids - you'll learn as
much from them as they will from you.
Sunflowers are another great kid favorite. They sprout
quickly, and grow so fast that they'll tower over your
munchkins by midsummer. Kids love to track and measure, and
sunflowers give them a good reason to do it. A sunflower can
grow as much as 4 or 5 inches literally overnight.
Help them build a 'bean tent'. Just arrange the poles in a
teepee shape, tie the tops together, and train the bean
plants to grow up along them. By midsummer, the kids will
have a Jack in the Beanstalk house where they can hide away
from the sun.
Even the littlest fingers can get involved. Toddlers as
young as 2 can drop big seeds into holes that you dig for
them. Just give them a handful and keep a close watch to be
sure that they don't swallow and choke. Beans are the best
choice, but any seed big enough for littler fingers works.
As summer draws to an end, sit out in the late afternoon sun
with the culls and picks from your garden. Let them get
their little fingers into the act, picking the seeds for
next year's garden. Show them how to gently stir and turn
the trays of seeds you're drying. Those same little fingers
can hold a knot when you tie up the brown paper packages
with twine. Tuck them away in your gardening closet, ready
to bring out on a cold winter day when there's just a hint
of spring's promise in the sun.
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