10 Tips For Gardening With Kids

Getting out and about in the great outdoors is a fantastic way of stimulating your child's senses and teaching them about the world around them. This learning can start in your own garden, and is guaranteed fun in a healthy and inexpensive way.

Growing flowers, learning about minibeasts and nature and being hands on in the garden is great for physical development and understanding the world whilst having fun and getting mucky.

Here we go through a few tactics that will get the kids excited and help to teach them the ways of the world...

Plant seeds as well as ready grown plants

Growing flowers such as sunflowers, poppies and marigolds is a great way to get your child excited about the progress of their plants. Each day they can monitor the growth and feel proud when their plants have fully grown. Whilst they are growing, get some more flowers that they can plant themselves from a garden centre that they can care for and have a visual of what their seeds will eventually grow into.

Grow a variety of plants

Gardening is a great way to stimulate your child's senses, so get different plants that will ignite their sound, sight, smell and even taste. Bushes and plants that rustle are great for sound, alongside a variety of bright flowers that can help your child learn about different shades of colours. Strong smelling plants such as lavender are a good way to fill your garden with different scents, and planting herbs and vegetables is a great way of showing your child where food comes from and is a rewarding way of showing them how to cook – as well as getting as many vegetables into their diet as possible if they're a fussy eater!

Get them their own planter

If your kids have their own planter or area in the garden that they can tend to, it teaches them to be responsible for their own items and gives them something to get excited about. Take them to the garden centre to buy plants, seeds and decorations so that they can personalise it themselves and look after their own plants. Keep an eye on them to make sure they are getting enough water and sun and to avoid any tears, but let your little ones water their own plants and weed their own patch.

Go on a mini-beast hunt

Just make sure they don't eat any worms... they look tasty to a 5 year old. Look for different types of insects and explain to your children how creepy crawlies are good for the soil and the plants. Encourage them to carefully hold the creatures that you find and learn to distinguish between the different kinds.

Set aside some 'gardening clothes'

If your kids' favourite jeans have a hole in them from last time they were out on their bike, keep them aside for gardening clothes and they'll be excited to be allowed to carry on wearing them. Otherwise, go out purposely and let them pick an outfit that can be set aside. It certainly doesn't have to be expensive, so just take them to a cheap shop and let them pick anything they want so that they will look forward to getting in the garden and to their planter wearing their outfit.

Create an area to enjoy your garden

Set up an area with a table and chairs that the kids can sit at to draw the flowers and enjoy the nature that they have built. It would also be nice to eat dinner outside when it's sunny in the surroundings you've built together, especially if you're having any of the vegetables or herbs that you've grown yourself.

Get them their own tools

Get smaller trowels, forks and hoes that they can use themselves for some added fun. Personalise child sized tools with their name, or buy some with pictures of characters that they like in bright and attractive colours. This will give them the chance to further their independence. But remember: When they are digging and using sharp items, adult supervision is a must at all times.

Make their planters, tools and decorations into an area of their own

Add benches, garden ornaments and stepping stones on the grass around their own personal areas to make them want to visit them more and give them somewhere they can tell guests is theirs and want to show off.

If you don't have a huge garden...

Why not take some yoghurt pots or small plant pots and grow cress or herbs in the kitchen? This will still be fun for your child and you can grow plants that they can eat, giving your children a sense of achievement.

Make a DIY bird feeder

Use a juice or milk carton and cut the sides out to let the birds be able to get in and out, then fill the carton with bird seed. Your kids can decorate them any way that they want, meaning you can give them another activity that they can enjoy. This will attract more nature into your garden and make your child see the outdoors as even more fun. When the weather isn't the best, your children can look at their plants out of the window and try to spot the different birds and other wildlife such as squirrels that are attracted to the seed.

Now that you've read our tips, you're ready to get the whole family's fingers green! Do you love to garden with the children and have any helpful tips? Let us know in the comments below!