The Benefits of Gardening with Our Children

There are so many benefits of children gardening together with families or communities that the list is endless. This article gets us started thinking about why we should spend time this year with our families and friends in the garden.

It’s a great learning experience

Learning isn’t only for children and there’s no reason it can’t happen outside of school, in a vegetable garden. Watching fruit and vegetables grow and ripen are valuable experiences to discover where some of our food comes from and to learn how to cook with those fresh, tasty ingredients from our own backyards.

Growing plants from seed gives children the opportunity to watch them sprout and grow from the beginning and to keep records of the progress and growth.

Children also learn how to care for the plants once they’re transplanted into the garden: how much water they require, what weeds to pick out or how to combat nasty bugs while keeping the good bugs safe.

We appreciate more

Gardening is fun but it is also demanding work that allows us to become more mindful of what we eat and how difficult a farmer’s job can be. People involved in gardening become more aware of the value of land and protecting the environment rather than just taking everything for granted. And, we appreciate how good the fruit and vegetables taste and how healthy they are.

It’s healthy

Taking care of a garden with family or members of a community is fun and healthy. Kids get outdoors and away from the television or computer, they put down their phones and get fresh air and exercise. People working closely together end up bonding over the common goal of growing fresh food and beautiful flowers.

Everyone involved in gardening becomes more aware of the environment and learns to take positive action. Even the smallest things count in a garden, such as providing flowers that feed beneficial insects like bees or butterflies, creating the perfect environment for worms to flourish, returning nutrients to the soil with compost and, of course, providing organic, fresh produce for the table.

It’s not too early to get started now with a great plan for the spring garden. Sit down with the family and get them excited for the planting season so that everyone can reap the rewards of fresh produce, time spent outside and a sense of community all summer long.