"A little dirt never hurt".
Not a truer word spoken.
From a young age, both girls have joined in on garden activities. Mess was encouraged, clothes can be washed or shaken out and rubbermaid containers make great make shift outdoor tubs!
Depending on your children's ages, you can get them involved early on and encourage a love for the outdoors. For babies and independent sitters, the pack-n-play is ideal as it can be kept nearby and allows for independent play. Alternatively utilizing babywearing techniques can help keep babe close and allow you to work. We loved the K-Tan for the very very early days, and later upgraded to a Tula.
Now that our girls are a bit older, they enjoy mostly doing their own things in the yard. They are encouraged to help and enjoy mostly doing so especially when it comes to watering all the plants whether full grown or seedlings!
Below are some additional activities to help encourage that love of gardening from a young age! :
-Let your littles help go thru your seed packets before the season begins. Talk about each variety of plant or vegetable and ask which they'd like to grow.
-Encourage your child to have their own mini garden by way of a specific planter or area within the larger garden.
-Have them help fill dirt cups and seed start trays with soil
-Allow them the place seeds in each container and count out loud as they do
-Practice color recognition with seed packets or young sprouts
-Have children help plant young starts aiding in fine motor skills as they use various tools
-Explore findings within the soil, point out smaller insects like Pill Bugs, Worms etc.
-Teach proper watering techniques by encouraging kids to water gently at the base of the plant.
-Have help to spread mulch and "tuck" plants in for "bed"
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