Even though the Fall season is here, it’s still an important season in the garden. The Fall temperatures not only make it easier to do your gardening chores, Fall is also a great time to plant, prune and clean-up the garden. It’s also a great time to get your kids interested in learning the different fruits and vegetables that you can grown in your garden during the Fall. Here’s a guest post on how you can get your kids interested in gardening this Fall or anytime of the year.
photo credit: MorgueFile
Getting kids interested in gardening can lead to many benefits. Kids that grow their own food have a better concept of where food comes from, what is healthy and unhealthy to eat, and how nature works. They are also more likely to eat foods they have grown and put the effort into making. This means healthier meal choices without a fight. Here are some ways you can get kids interested in gardening:
1. Start Inside – One of the easiest ways to give kids a taste of gardening is to grow a plant indoors. You can start out seeds in a clear baggie or container so they can see the roots spreading and the seed growing even before it would normally emerge from the soil. This is a faster way to get kids interested then waiting the time it takes for normal gardening. All it takes is a moist paper towel and a clear plastic bag hung in a sunny window to have seeds sprouting in no time. Then you can work up to planning the seeds and charting their growth.
2. Favorite Fruits and Vegetables – Another way to get kids interested in gardening is to allow then to pick their favorite fruits and veggies to grow. Common kid favorites like strawberries are easy to grow and come in a wide variety suited to almost any climate.
3. Think Big – Last, you can get kids interested in gardening by thinking big… or really small. Fun kid sized produce like cherry tomatoes are the perfect fit for little mouths. They also produce a lot of fruit, which makes them a hit come harvest time. Huge plants like watermelon and pumpkin are also fun for kids to grow. They love to see their work pay off in a big way. If you have more than one child you can set up a competition on who can grow the largest one!
Making gardening fun for kids is easy. You just have to think like they do. Start them off on the right food and give them a taste for gardening that will last a lifetime.
This post is contributed by Linda Bailey from housekeeping.org. She is a Texas-based writer who loves to write on the topics of housekeeping, green living, home décor, and more.