Do you love planning out your garden? Do you eagerly anticipate all the delicious food you’ll be enjoying after all the hard work of caring for a garden? This is one of the highlights of Spring at our house!
But there always seems to be one downfall.
Life gets crazy and everyone gets busy, and no one wants to help. It turns into a bit of a Henny Penny situation…everyone wants to enjoy the delicious garden produce as long as I do all the work! And I bet it’s not just our family.
Over the years, I’ve come up with 5 tips to get kids gardening. These are easy tips for busy families, and they’ll help your garden look its best all summer long!
These 5 tips should help cover a variety of children’s personalities as well as their daily mood, and it’s nice to have a surprise in your back pocket if yesterday’s plan doesn’t work today!
5 Tips to get Kids Gardening
1. Get them their own tools
Everything is more fun if you’ve got your own supplies (bonus points if they’re cute and they match!). It’s also easier for kids to work with tools that fit them, and when it’s easier they’re a lot more likely to want to help!
(photo source)
2. Let Them Choose What You Grow
If they’re excited about the food you’re going to grow, chances are they’ll be excited about working in the garden to keep their plants healthy and growing strong. You can even give them a section of the garden to be in charge of. If they do all their own weeding and watering and harvesting, they’ll have a great sense of accomplishment!
3. Involve Friends
I know this might sound strange. What kid wants to go somewhere else and do chores? I’ve found that when kids are working with their friends, they don’t seem to mind the work. It can be fun if they’re working together, and popsicles are the perfect payment on a hot summer day!
4. Let Them Earn Money
If your child is driven by money, offer to let them have a produce stand with the extra veggies! We always seem to have a plethora of certain veggies (zucchini comes to mind!). Your produce stand can be as easy as some baskets set out on the curb, a folding table, or something as cute as this⬇︎
(photo source)
5. Work With Them
I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a job inside the house or out in the yard, our children work harder and more happily when we’re working with them. I like to set aside about 30 minutes several mornings each week to work with my kids, weeding and cleaning up the garden area. This allows the kids to ask questions and get guidance and when we’re all working together, the work gets done quickly.
What tips do you have for getting kids to help you in the garden? Let me know in a comment below!
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