Grab your garden gloves, friends! When it comes to moms and dads having a hard time finding activities for healthy eating and active exercise, gardening with kids can be a significant activity and resource.
Never allow the gardening concept to overpower you. Planting flowers or veggies don’t call for a flawlessly level, huge or even sunlit lawn. Strive for planting flowers or vegetables in a small-sized flower bed. Heck, you could even use a kids pool or sandbox for a small raised flower or vegetable bed. And trellises work great for growing beans or other vines that are edible.
For those of us with smaller yards, a handful of pots and dirt in a bright area (or even deck) could be an effortless approach to grow herbs. You could even grow some tomatoes this way.
Planting with your kids doesn’t have to be complicated, either.
Why Grow Flowers or Plant Veggies with Kids?
Keeping kids healthy, active, and happy through kid-friendly pursuits and learning opportunities are key to enriching their lives. Growing flowers and veggies can play a vital role towards that enrichment, as long as you keep the following in mind:
- Keep your children safe and place fertilizers and sprays far from reach.
- Don’t use chemicals.
- Wear sunscreen!
- Never keep buckets of water unattended.
There are Three Basic Benefits to consider when planting a garden with kids:
#1 – Boost the Brain Power by Gardening with Kids
Who would’ve guessed that gardening would have a positive impact on brain health? Gardening with children isn’t always a bed of roses. However, letting kids dig in dirt can be extremely soothing to the mind and brain – not just their brain, but yours, too. Try it!
Studies show that gardening boosts brain development in the following ways:
- Better Rest:Gardening promotes sleep. than a good physical activity for children so they can wind down with a good night’s sleep. Rest encourages better cognitive development.
- Better Overall Mood:Gardening with kids gives self-worth and purpose in life.
- Motor Skills:Gardening encourages motor skill enhancement just like playing basketball, swimming or drawing pictures. Read more about the Mistakes Being Made with Children and Sports.
- Immune Regulation:Soaking up Vitamin D from the sun, while working out in the garden, helps boost immunity. Read more about ways to Boost Family Immunity. Read more about ways to Boost Family Immunity.
- Sensory Awareness:Nothing is more therapeutic than nourishment of the senses from food-producing vegetable gardens and the scents of nature and flowers. Not to mention the texture of dirt, flowers and veggies.
#2 – Boost Health by Gardening with Kids
Planting flowers and veggies is a fun, healthy activity for children. Gardening with kids can be great for our health, whether it be through eating the veggies grown or the physical activity of planting.
Check out these healthy benefits associated with planting out in the yard with kids:
- Healthy Eating:Whenever little ones take part in horticulture, the veggies and fruits that they are encouraged to consume will, without a doubt, have a beneficial impact on their health.
- Hygiene Hypothesis:Believe it or not, the act of gardening helps prevent a child’s vulnerability to allergies and autoimmune conditions. The Hygiene Hypothesis Theory suggests that kids who grow up without being exposed to germs due to the habitual cleaning of the hands risks a child’s autoimmunity. This may explain why so many kids have asthma and allergies. Let the kids play in the dirt!
- Exercise:Physical activity such as moving soil, carrying the watering can, digging in the dirt, and pushing the wheelbarrow strengthens the body. Read more about How to Fit Exercise into Your Day with Kids.
#3 – Boost the Soul by Gardening with Kids
With kids spending too much time on the computer and phone these days, family engagement is key for the soul. Watching plants sprout and grow feeds the soul. There is a sense of pride that comes along with it, too.
It’s hard not to recognize the soul benefits of gardening:
- Family Connection:Team building with the family by planning and planting seeds create a sense of purpose and responsibility.
- You can’t put a price on the self-esteem a child gains by eating the veggies he planted himself or watching the flowers she grew herself.
- Taking a break from a day of chaos can relieve anyone’s stress. Directing your mind away from stress to experience the scents, sounds and beauty of nature alleviates anxiety.
Easy to Grow Vegetables to Plant with Your Kids
- Zucchini
- Radishes
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Green Beans
- Sungold Cherry Tomato
- Cucumbers
- Lettuce and Other Leafy Greens
- Broccoli
- Strawberries
Easy to Grow Patio Herbs to Plant with Kids
- Cilantro
- Basil
- Mint
- Chives
- Oregano
- Rosemary
Flowers Kids Love to Touch
- Allium
- Chenille
- Passion Flower
- Sunflower
- Lotus
- Scadoxus
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