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Getting kids involved in gardening is a challenge, even without competition from cool gadgets. Create a unique garden atmosphere that draws kids in to participate. Here are some simple tips to help make gardening fun for kids!
How To Help Make Gardening Fun For Kids
The more fun the garden’s atmosphere, the harder it will be for kids to resist getting involved. Develop green thumbs at an early age. To help with this process, we use creative gardening concepts and unusual plants that appeal to budding gardeners.
Unusual Plant Choices
Plenty of indoor and outdoor plants have weird names or strange features that appeal to young gardeners. Little ones instinctively gravitate towards cool-sounding words. Some examples are “dragon’s blood” stonecrop, the “spiderwort” plant, and the “tapeworm” plant, whose weird flat green leaves resemble the real deal. By letting kids choose plants that appeal to them, you’re encourage them to invest time in a garden plot, window box, or whatever piece of ground is handy.
Check out our Seed Scavenger Hunt printable.
Wacky Vegetable Selections to Make Gardening Fun for Kids
Weeding brussel sprouts or broccoli isn’t exactly appealing to kids, who already hate the sight of those vegetables on their plate. Kids are far more likely to spend time in the vegetable garden if they’re allowed to grow more appealing choices, such as sunflowers or swan gourds (named that because of their shape). Even vegetables like the scarlet runner beans are attractive to young gardeners. Their shiny purple and black peas look like something from a fairytale. As long as the vegetable isn’t the plain green variety, then kids are much more likely to enjoy it.
Nothing gets kids into the act faster than the magic words “Jack o’ Lantern”. Pumpkins are easy to grow, although they do require a little extra outdoor space. Surprisingly, the plants offer incredible variety, from mini “baby boos” in ghostly white to monster varieties like the oversized “Big Max.” Also, harvest time means additional fun, when kids are rewarded by seeing their hard work become their very own Halloween pumpkin. And who doesn’t like taking the seeds out of the squishy inside?
We love our Plant A Bean Playdough Mats!
Flower Power and Nature Havens
Having an array of colorful plants is another way to help make gardening fun for kids. Create a non-vegetable garden for kids who feel drawn to nature and flowers instead. Choose vibrant selections like chrysanthemums, petunias, hollyhocks, and snapdragons to create a beautiful garden.
Another important aspect of a garden is the animal life it can attract. Kids will be fascinated by a bird-filled garden created with feeders, bird baths, and plants. Choose blossoms designed to attract a variety of birds, with sunflowers for seed lovers or bright red blooms for hummingbirds. A butterfly garden filled with wildflowers or colorful hybrids, along with a “butterfly house” holds big rewards for curious young gardeners interested in studying the insects up close.
For kids learning to garden for the first time it’s important to have activities that willingly draw them in. Creating a garden with things that they enjoy and can invest their time and effort in will help them develop a future green thumb.
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