Gardening is a wonderful hobby that can be turned to a great family activity. You should feel lucky if your home has a large enough garden that you can utilise and work on with your children. But you don't have to have your own garden to get your hands dirty. Potting some plants on your balcony or houseplants inside your apartment or going to a local, community garden are also great options to reap gardening's rewards.
Gardening definitely is a worthy project to invest time in. There's just so much that your children can learn about and discover if you introduce them to the garden, and it's a place where they'll have a lot of fun. Here are few other notable benefits:
1. Gardening helps children accumulate knowledge of plants and wildlife.
Kids are naturally curious, and there's no better place to explore than in the garden. The time your children spend working alongside you in the garden is a wonderful opportunity for them to learn more about various plants and wildlife. From learning the names of plants and how they smell and feel to understanding the science of plants and how they grow and thrive, there's lots to learn!
Here's a fun tip: To help your child learn the names of the plants, create some artsy plant signs. Get your child to write the name of the plant on the sign and then put it next to the plant it goes with. This is a great way for children to use their creativity while also learning by doing.
2. Gardening introduces children to animal care.
It is not a secret that all children feel drawn to animals and want to understand them, care for them, or communicate with them. There is no better opportunity for them to do this than spending some time in the garden. You can encourage this by building a squirrel feeder or a bird house. Also, when your gardening efforts are rewarded with beautiful flowers, you and your children can enjoy the butterflies that visit.
3. Gardening teaches kids responsibility and patience.
Gardening takes a lot of work and requires a great investment in time. There is a lot for children to learn and a wide range of skills for them to acquire, from selecting seeds, to establishing beds and caring for young plants. Such activities are definitely worth it and will keep your children’s interest for hours.
But plants also need a lot of tender love and care to survive and thrive. Even if you just make your child responsible for taking care of one plant or a pot, he or she will learn how much dedication is needed to keep a garden healthy. Fun Tip: Try to keep all your kids' gardening projects as close to the house as possible so they can easily monitor their own plants.
4. Gardening is a fun form of physical activity.
We can all agree that physical activity is very important for your children’s health, especially in a time when children's obesity is a great concern. There's plenty of that in the garden - raking leaves, mowing the lawn, and digging flower beds to name a few. All of that is not only fun and interesting, but is also good for children's physical health. So encourage your children to step away from their TV shows and video games and step into the garden.
5. Gardening encourages healthy eating.
If you're growing your own produce, your children will not only learn more about where food comes from, but also how to eat healthy. Children are more likely to eat vegetables that they've picked themselves than ones that are placed in front of them at the dinner table. If children are involved in the entire planting and cultivating process, they'll feel a sense of ownership and will want to try the fruits and vegetables that they've grown themselves.
6. Gardening is a great opportunity to spend some quality time together.
Spending time in the garden with your children is a great opportunity to chat and bond or even just listen to some music together. It's also a great way to force adults to take a step back from their busy lives and connect with the natural world. Having a common hobby helps develop strong relationships between parents and children, and it gives you something to reminisce on at other points during the week.
But remember that spending time with your kids in the garden doesn't have to be all about planting and watering. There are other fun projects you can do together in the garden like building a homemade scarecrow or birdhouse, or painting and decorating flower pots. Try to make your time together as creative and fun as possible.
If you can make the garden your children’s favourite place, you will do them a big favour. They'll learn a lot and have fun as well, which is very important for young individuals. So what are you waiting for? Get gardening with your children ASAP!