Make Gardening a Family Affair - Part 4: Have Fun!

There are a lot of things you can do in the garden that can be a lot of fun for your whole family, while making your garden even better!

For example, composting can be a fun project for adults or kids. Even though it does require some patience and effort, it’s something that kids will enjoy getting to help with. If you have depleted soil, you can give it back its natural vitality and health by using compost.

Compost scraps in a bin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You can easily make your own compost, and it’s a great thing to add to the soil to grow better fruits and vegetables. You can get everyone involved in helping save the household waste that can go into the composting pile instead of into the garbage can.

Your family can learn how composting helps the garden by helping the soil retain moisture so that plants get the water that they need. Kids can learn how to tell when a compost pile is ready and which containers are best or easiest to use when creating a compost pile.

Gardening can be a fun family project when you allow your children to decorate their designated spaces in the garden. They can decorate with little toy butterflies or birds, and of course they can grow flowers as natural decorations!

You can let your child plant a fairy garden somewhere in their garden, and there are kits to help you do this. They can also use small decorative lights in the garden. Just make sure they’re placed far enough away from the plants so nothing hinders their growth.

Another fun thing that you can do is to make sure that every family member has his or her own gardening tools. Kids especially love this idea. You can even get a gardening bag that’s monogrammed with his or her name on it.

Child sized rakes, shovels, watering cans and hoes are good items to get, especially if the children are small - because they won’t be able to use many of the standard full-sized gardening tools.

When they have their own tools, kids will feel more involved in the process. Plus, child-size gardening tools also come in fun colors, which will help make it more interesting for your child. They’re also much safer for small children to use than standard adult-size gardening tools.

Toys gardening together. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Encourage your child to learn how to take care of his tools, how to clean them, and then keep them safely stored with yours until the next time they’re needed.

By teaching your child about the joy of gardening, they’re more likely to enjoy healthier food later in life.

Gardening will also open your child up to the huge variety of different fruits and vegetables available to choose from when it comes to eating. Instead of having to eat standard vegetables like peas and carrots all the time, your child may be open to trying more exotic and unique ones. This is a good way to get your child to eat vegetables. Many times kids don’t like standard vegetables like Brussels sprouts and broccoli, but if you introduce them to different ones - especially vegetables they grew themselves, they may be a lot more open to eating them.

The fun doesn’t have to stop when the garden items are harvested, either. You can teach your child how to make their favorite dishes with the vegetables and fruits that they grew as well! If you have a lot of berries, you can also teach your child how to make jam - or tasty smoothies using fresh fruit from the garden.

Not only can gardening help create special time together, but you’ll also be eating healthier as a family, and teaching your kids healthy habits that can last a lifetime. There's no better gift you can give!


Gardening Tools for Kids: