9 tips for introducing your child to gardening

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Children are natural gardeners.

They’re curious, like to learn by doing and love to play in the dirt. By working in a garden, children learn the satisfaction that comes from caring for something over time. Gardening gives children a special set of life skills—one that can be overlooked in the standard classroom environment.

To cultivate a love of gardening and fresh vegetables, involve kids in fun, hands-on garden projects. Garden games and creative approaches to garden activities can inspire kids to explore and learn—all while having a good time.

Try these tips inspired by Miracle Grow to introduce your child to the world of gardening:

1. Make your garden kid-based

Make sure your child helps generate the ideas for what will be there. He or she can also help with construction, planting and maintenance. You’ll need to facilitate, at least from the start, but don’t do everything. Focus on the process of involving them and they will then take ownership.

2. Develop the garden to be appropriate for the site and regional conditions

Involve the kids in the site analysis process so they understand how important the light, soil, drainage and other environmental factors are to having a garden. Develop the garden so the features and plant choices are adapted to local conditions, so you are not working against nature.

3. Focus on functional garden design, not how it will look

Start the design process by determining what the children want to be doing and learning in the garden. Base the features on the practical functions they will serve, and don’t worry too much about aesthetics. Gardens that serve as hands-on learning “laboratories” for kids will be beautiful because they are well-used and well-loved spaces. Also, remember that the children’s sense of what is pretty may not be yours. That’s OK because the garden will be their space.

4. Be comfortable with dirt

All kids are washable, so as long as they aren’t dressed in their Sunday best, let them get dirty. If mud is a concern once the kids are going back inside, try plastic grocery bags over their shoes, or set up a hand washing and shoe-scraping station before they go back inside.

5. Bugs and crawly critters are cool

Children aren’t necessarily afraid of things that crawl and creep. They only learn that these things are icky from adults. Worms, caterpillars, grubs, insects, spiders and all sorts of wondrous creatures are out in your garden as part of the ecosystem. View them as integral parts of the system, and the kids will be amazed and curious, not afraid.

6. No chemicals

Given that you are gardening with children, this doesn’t need much explanation. Also, in urban areas, have a basic soil assessment for lead and other urban contaminants to make sure your site is safe for children before the garden is developed.

7. Grow some things to eat

Children are much more willing to try and consume fresh fruits and vegetables they have grown themselves. Have a harvest celebration and encourage the kids to share their bounty with others.

8. Reinforce the lessons from the garden while indoors

Prepare the kids for their gardening experience by asking questions like, “What will we see today?” or “How much do you think things have grown since last week?” Engage kids in keeping journals and/or scrapbooks of their garden to monitor its progress through the season and over the years.

9. Keep it fun

Have a plan for how the kids’ time in the garden will be organized so they aren’t left idle for long, but also be open to the “teachable moments” that come along.