The summer months bring warm days, beautiful flowers, fresh vegetables and lots of gardening. Whether you have a few pots filled with flowers or a full-fledged vegetable garden, getting children involved in gardening can be a fun activity for parents and children to share.

How It Helps Kids

• They learn about personal responsibility.
  Gardening can teach children about responsibility—the value of taking care of something for a period of time and the importance of completing a project. Adults can help children break gardening into specific tasks, such as preparing the soil, planting seeds, watering plants, pulling weeds, and maintaining tools.
• They develop decision-making skills.
  Gardening gives children the opportunity to make decisions and experience the results of their choices. Children can make choices about whether to use pots or a garden plot, whether to grow plants from seeds or seedlings, or whether to organize the garden in rows or in a more creative, free-form design.
• They learn how to work with others.
  Gardening can help teach children about sharing tasks with another person. Gardening is something that people of all ages can do together. Children can learn to work cooperatively with siblings, parents, grandparents, friends and neighbors.
• They become more aware of the diversity of all living things.
  Gardening is an excellent way to teach children about how things grow and live differently. Adults can help children see the diversity of plants and seeds by pointing out differences in size, color, shape, and growth rate.
• They experience the joy of positive results.
  By planting a variety of flowers and vegetables that grow gradually, children will learn the value of waiting for something much anticipated and sharing the fruits of their labors.

Making It a Fun and Educational

• Let your child choose what to plant.
  Take your child with you to a nursery. Help your child pick plants that are fun to grow—like pumpkins, popcorn and watermelon. Choose some pick and eat plants, such as leaf lettuce, strawberries, peas or tomatoes.
• Give your child a sense of success.
  Choose plants that grow quickly and are not too delicate (and more likely to recover from occasional neglect). Easy-to-grow flowers include sunflowers, marigolds, zinnias and morning glory. Point out the changes you notice as plants grow. Start a contest of who can find the first sprouting seed, blooming flower, or ripening tomato.
• Provide structure through directions and time limits.
  Limiting the daily tasks to just 10-15 minutes of watering or weeding will help your child stay focused and keep the project fun, too.

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