Tips & How To's

We asked for ideas to involve kids in the garden, and had such a great list of thing to do that we had to share!  I’ll definitely be using some of these to get my kids excited about gardening.  Thanks to everyone who contributed!!

• Becky–I pay my kids a penny per rock to get all the little rocks that creep into our garden from our neighbors yard.  Sometimes I pay them a penny per dandelion head too!
• Laurie–When my kids were little I paid them a penny per snail—solved our garden snail problem in a hurry!
• Jami–We have a million pine cones in our yard, so I give each kid a grocery bag and tell them to see how many they get. The winner gets a treat…the winner always gets 3 treats so they can share with their brother and sister!!
• Solducky–Going on bug hunts! A good chance to teach the difference between good bugs and pests in the garden too. And then I can squish the squash beetles or other pests.
• Renee G–I used to have my boys make veggie pictures and then we stapled them to wooden popsicle sticks to label the rows in our garden.
• Ruthann H–My four year old helps me by pointing out all the “nasty” weeds (goat head thorns) he also points out all the poop in the yard. Such a helper!!
• Sarah B–I got a set of child-sized garden tools for my 4 year old and gave her her own little patch to work in. She chooses what to plant and gets to learn the ins & outs by working her “garden!”
• Jenette–I let the kids pick what kind of garden they want to plant. My daughter did a pizza garden and my son did a ratatoulli garden. They each have their own grow box and take care of their garden from seed to harvest and preparation. They have so much fun doing it! They are very possesive of their gardens and make sure the weeds stay out and the plants get the water they need. Great way to teach responsibility and a self-sufficiency skill!
• Kammi B–We give our kids plants and seeds as gifts, like at Easter time or for birthdays. They sometimes will get a little hand shovel or gloves to go with them. Each year they get a spot to plant their own garden items. Sometimes their spot requires a little bit of weeding so we make that a family activity. I have to remind them to water their plants every once in a while, but it’s so rewarding for them to see that they grew something all by themselves. Even more rewarding when they can eat what they grew! Also, in the summertime we have fun making an “only from our garden” dinner. We eat only what we pick from the garden. Gets us to go out and pick our veggies and fruit, and plan a meal together. My kids are much more interested in what we plant, and how we take care of our garden now.
• Jane C--I remember as a kid getting paid at an aunt’s house a penny a weed. But my favorite thing was picking raspberries! It is always fun to know you are helping to grow something you can eat later!
• Melissa–We have weeds that grow from bulbs in our garden. In order to get my little brother to dig out the bulbs as well as the plants, we have hidden arrowheads and other fun things in the dirt by the plants.
• Paula–We got our kids interested in gardening by letting them pick seeds and plant them on the condition that they had to help water and weed. And they were excited to see their results. My daughter started by helping with planting a watermelon, she was 4 at the time.
• Deanne–Our favorite Primary teacher Lani gave her little 3 year old class a lesson on water and what a gift it is from Heavenly Father. She gave the kids each their own watering can, I can’t tell you how many times our little grand-daughter is bringing it to me to help me water outside. When my girls were little each had their own row in the veggie garden, some wanted to plant veggies, but one liked flowers the best so she planted those. We would go on snail hunts and stick them in a big ziplock and leave in the sun to cook. The kids got a kick out of that.  They foam up, sick I know, but kids like that kind of stuff. Two out of the three are great gardners in their own homes now.
• Katie–I have my boys see if they can get up to 100 weeds…we have a very weedy patch of gravel. The 7 year old easily made it and then decided he wanted to go to 1000! He got up to 475 in one day. My friend asked what they get for doing this. I said, “Um, the satisfaction of pulling 100 or 1000 weeds.” No prizes necessary, but I might copy the penny per rock idea for rocks that make their way out of a pathway into the lawn.
• Tobi S--I worked in the front yard weeding, but this time I had my three little granddaughters help me. They picked up about 100 pinecones and made a bundle of money. After that, they got right into the dirt with me. I gave them a spade or fork and boy did they have a ball kicking up the dirt. At one point, Bella started to collect Rolly Pollys. A little later I asked her where the Rolly Pollys were and she opens her little sweaty hand and had about 20 poor little guys in her palm. I had her put them back into the dirt. I worked in the yard for over 2 hours and they never left me, sweet little darlings.
• Eric F–While we were out working in the yard the other day our sweet 2 year old decided to make a beautiful bouquet of pretty yellow dandelion flowers. She is not quite old enough to really understand what is a weed and a planted flower so we are happy to let her wander around the yard gathering her “beautiful” dandelions while we do the dirty work.
• Melissa W–Heres an idea: Give the kids a bucket or bag, whatever is easy to hold, and whoever can collect the most unwanted garden/yard items in 10 minutes gets a prize 
• Jeremy–Make a game of “HORSE” out of it, like the basket ball game. 1st kid does something, say like pick 10 weeds in 30 seconds. Kids after have to do that. If they don’t complete the task in the set amount of time, they earn a letter, and so on…..
• Tisha–We split our family up and see who can fill their buckets full of weeks first. My girls LOVED that. I think they loved that we got rained on too. They keep asking to do it again and we shall, the weeds in my parking strip are fierce.
• Megan–I have always thought that involving kids in the whole growing process is neat. Start by giving them a choice of plant/flower/veggie, etc. they want to plant, then that can be “their” plant to take care of, weed, water (with guidance), and see how it grows and develops. It gives the child purpose and responsibility.