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Gardening Fun with Kids

Gardening Fun with Kids
By Liz Patrick

It's no secret that kids like to play in the dirt. Mine don't feel complete
unless they come in for the evening with dirt covering at least 50% of
their bodies. Letting them help you in the garden is an excellent way for
the kids to play in the dirt all they want!

To me, the biggest pain when planting flowers is digging the holes. When I
discovered that both of my kids had a thing for digging, I decided to put
them to work. I gave each of them a trowel, and before I knew it, I had more
than enough holes for my marigolds, vinca and petunias. And the kids had a blast.

That evening when they came in to wash up for dinner, they had the dirt of
honest work on their little hands and faces, (and knees and shins and
clothes...) and they were tired. They were proud, too, of the work they had
done. The very next day, they were ready to get right back to it.

Now they help me in the yard all the time. My five-year-old loves to pull weeds. My nine-year-old plucks off dead blooms and finds it incredibly funny that the procedure is called dead-heading. Each has his own kid-sized
gardening tools complete with shovels, hoes, rakes and gloves (found at
just about any store that carries gardening supplies). And they keep the
fighting to a minimum. Dirt fights do happen, but not often. They've learned not to waste good soil.

Best of all, we get extra quality time together, and my boys get the satisfaction of seeing something they planted grow and bloom and beautify our yard. If only they found a clean room equally pleasing.