Zoey and Auntie JaChelle decided to plant a garden this summer. They thought it would be a great way to keep track of time and create something together. It also reminded Zoey of home. Her house was bursting with a variety of plants and had tons of natural lighting. She and Mama would water and weed the plants together every Saturday morning.
Before you dig in
Before we get our hands dirty, you need to decide what type of garden you want to create. There are many options, but a few great ones for preschoolers are an herb garden, a succulent garden, or a vegetable garden. Once you choose your type of garden, select the seeds/seedlings you want to plant and decide how much space you need.
Let’s get DIRTY!
Now that we have a plan, it’s time to get our hands dirty creating space for our plants. Auntie JaChelle and I had great conversation while planting our gardens. We created three gardens this summer:
- The cactus and succulent garden included Aloe, Hens and Chicks, Graptoveria Moonglow, Echeveria Secunda, and “Finger Jade.”
- The herb garden included rosemary, mint, and lavender.
- The vegetable garden included kale and cucumber.
Put some flowers in your hair
We started noticing that our love for nature kept showing up in our lives. Our “I Love My Hair” coloring book has plenty of pages with hairstyles infused with nature to color. Auntie JaChelle brought us colored pencils for coloring. These are my first pencils! Every day, we talked about our day while she colored and I selected the colors for her to use on the pages.
Auntie JaChelle helped me keep my Saturday morning routine of tending to the plants. Throughout the summer, we watered our garden and started to make a timeline. We even had to repot the plants a few times to find the best pot for the plant to grow, or because the plant had grown out of its original pot. Auntie JaChelle would ask me lots of questions as we decided which pot to use, measured the plants’ growth, compared items, and problem solved. Sometimes Mama joined us on video and she raved about my growing vocabulary.
A dozen ways to promote gardening with young children
- Plant a garden. If space is a concern, succulent and herb gardens are perfect.
- Play a game of I Spy using the photo grids in this blog post. See if children can find the insects, the books, words, numbers, flowers eyeglasses, and the bow.
- Read one or all of the books Zoey displayed in these photos, and check out our Goodreads bookshelf for more garden-friendly children’s titles.
- Color or paint illustrations with plants, nature, or insects.
- Make nature-based art.
- Create a vocabulary list with nature and gardening words.
- Do comparison activities with basic household items or things you observe in the community.
- Take a nature walk and explore what’s happening in the community.
- Spend 20 minutes outdoors as often as possible. ENJOY walking, sitting on the bench, taking a bike ride, hiking a trail, jumping rope, going to the playground, or whatever else you like.
- Make a timeline to document the growth of the plants.
- Use a calendar to keep track of who waters the plants and when to water them.
- Visit the local farmer’s market for fresh vegetables and to talk to farmers.
Visit our Padlet for more resources and tips for gardening with young children.
