Planting a garden with children

Planting a garden with children

With the warm sun that has been present these last few weeks, there are many possibilities in terms of outdoor activities.

Beyond cleaning and clearing the yard, children are rediscovering the toys they loved so much last year.

With all the environmental awareness campaigns, many families have gone green and now have their own garden. Why not make gardening a daily activity?

Of course, planting a garden with children can require a great deal of preparation and, most of all, patience. You must select an area in your yard that is appropriate for planting vegetables, prepare the soil, pull weeds, spread fertilizers, etc. Depending on the ages of the children in your group, little ones can participate. It is never too early to give children responsibilities that correspond to their capacities. Furthermore, gardening makes it possible to raise awareness about healthy eating habits.

Here are a few tricks for gardening with children:

• If you normally plant a very large garden, reserve a small area for your group. Let children plant the vegetables they like to eat in this area. Make them responsible for caring for this area of the garden throughout the summer.
  
  
• Depending on the ages of the children in your group, get them involved in each and every task. Younger children can pull weeds and break up the soil. Older children can help plant seeds and pull weeds throughout the season. Children of all ages will love to water the garden with small watering cans.
  
  
• Watch the evolution of each plant with your group. Explain how plants need sunlight and water to grow. You may have to wait several days or even several weeks to see results.
  
  
• At the end of the season, reserve a period of time for picking vegetables each day. Let each child pick and wash vegetables. Very young children will like to wash vegetables in a container filled with water.
  
  
• Why not prepare a recipe with your garden vegetables with the help of your group? Older children can manipulate knives with adult supervision, but everyone can participate in their own way. This is a great way to add more vegetables to children's diet. At the very least, they will probably try new vegetables.

Above all, have fun! Keep in mind that the goal is to offer a group activity. Gardening makes it possible to work together towards a common goal...to eat yummy vegetables in the fall.

If possible, get grandparents involved. They will love to share the fact that when they were younger, gardening was essential and that each family had a huge garden to fulfill its needs. Gardening is also a great intergenerational activity.

Have a wonderful summer!

Maude Dubé
Early childhood educator

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