Gardening with children

[hoodat]

I think it's very important we older hands pass our gardening skills on to the younger generation. Let's teach them organic gardening before the chemical companies get to them with their advice to poison everything in sight.
I was showing my little niece some of the bugs in the garden and a "news bee" began to follow her, hovering, as they will, so I explained about syrphid flies and how they help keep down pests in our gardens. Later on we were visited by another smaller type and she asked me,"Is that another slurpy fly?"

 

[HunkieDorie23]

I expose my daughter to gardening. She had her own rows of plants last year. She is planting seed with me this year. She has her own flowers already. I babysit also and they are in the garden with me too. They planted my cucumber seeds for me. Two in each peat pot, which sprouted within days so they got very quick feed back on that.

The kids that I babysit are afraid of bees and so I have been teaching them that they aren't looking for them they are looking for flowers because that is where they get their food. They are starting to calm down.

Picking tomatoes is a bit more challenging because they tend to pick more green than red. I think they will do better this year with 2 of them being 4 yrs. old.

Kids are naturally into gardening. Dirt, digging, bugs (and worms)and flowers, that's their thing.

 

[vfem]

Oh yes, my daughter has her own tools at 3, and she can identify a lot of our veggies. If she grows it, she will pick it AND eat it!!!

 

[lesa]

My nephews like the dirt part of gardening! They are anxious to help plant and harvest- but no way are they eating any of that stuff!!!! I keep trying, but they don't even like our honey?? Thank goodness my daughter is grown and eats her veggies!

 

[ninnymary]

I so agree with all of the posts. I teach organic gardening to my preschoolers and I notice they eat their veggies better!

Mary

 

[hoodat]

I heard a funny story once:
A 5 year old girl was visiting grandpa and he was digging out potatoes. She helped him seperate them out for a while then stood there with her hands on her hips and said,"Well why in the world did you bury them in the first place?"

Billy

 

[Wildsky]

I heard a funny story once:
A 5 year old girl was visiting grandpa and he was digging out potatoes. She helped him seperate them out for a while then stood there with her hands on her hips and said,"Well why in the world did you bury them in the first place?"

Billy

so cute!

My kids love the garden, specially the peas - they eat them before they even get to the kitchen. My son loves beans, not frozen not in a can - so growing them is ideal.

Digging up potatoes last year was like looking for treasure, they were so dang excited to be the first to spot one!

I'm hoping for a bigger harvest of goodies this year.

 

[897tgigvib]

Some of my earliest memories are of gardening with my mother.

Then, when I was all of 4 years old she gave me gourd seeds to plant. oh boy!

 

[Detlor Poultry]

I've been gardening since I was 13. Which as far as you know wasn't very long ago (on the internet, I can be young again! )
I garden with my chickens.

 

[AllyRodrigues]

I, being a city kid, had a great influence from my great aunt and uncle who were Georgia farmers. Other kids went to Disney in the summer, I rode a tractor in Baxley, Georgia all summer. I only recently got to buy my dream house in the country. We only have one acre and hope to acquire more, but I have just fallen in love with gardening and love that my 4 year old son also enjoys helping with that and the chickens. He and I planted a long row of sugar snap peas on our front picket fence and you'll find the two of us out there every afternoon scouring for peas..I haven't had one make it inside the house yet.

My husband grew up in rural Brazil, so is more comfortable with growing things, but barely eats any of them! He's nice enough to help me grow all the veggies he won't touch, though!