Gardening With Kids

I always eagerly anticipate gardening season but it has been a cold and rainy spring where I live! It has been hard to get my garden started this year but I am planning to start this weekend. Gardening is a fantastic way to introduce your child to nature. And a great way for you to get some outdoor time too. Today I want to share with you some of the amazing benefits of gardening, along with some simple, projects for the beginning (or seasoned!) gardener.

Some of the many benefits of gardening include:

Provides Education – By allowing children to participate in gardening from seed to plant, they can learn the basics of seed growth and what plants need to thrive. How a Seed Grows by Helene J. Jordan is a great beginner book to supplement your gardening (and great for rainy days, too!).

Fosters Responsibility – Taking care of a plants takes work. It is a great way to introduce jobs. Kids of all ages can plant seeds, water, and pull weeds. Not only can kids learn how to take care of family plants, by learning how things grow, they can also see their part in the bigger picture of nature. Gardening can be a first step towards learning to be good stewards of their environment.

​Provides Diverse SENSORY Input –This is a particular favorite of mine! Kids need sensory input of all kinds to foster healthy development. Getting their hands in the dirt, gives great tactile input (and builds healthy immune systems – Really!).

By selecting herbs and flowers, they can experience a variety of smells. Fruits and vegetables taste great right out of the garden. Beautiful colors are a welcome sight when you plant easy growing flowers, such as zinnias. Let’s not forget hearing – how about making some simple wind chimes or listening to the variety of birds and bugs that may visit your garden! Or make a fun activity of working together to make this adorable set of wind chimes.

The final two senses that are often unknown – proprioception (awareness of where body is in space) and vestibular sense (balance) are both challenged through digging, bending and reaching.

photo credit: www.yates-kids-gardening.com

Promotes healthy eating –Studies show that kids are less likely to be picky and more likely to eat fruits and vegetables if they are grown at home. Who can’t resist eating a tomato right off the vine?!

Improves mental health – Scientific evidence abounds that show the benefits of gardening for all ages. Participating in gardening has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, decrease aggressive behavior, improve attention and increase empathy. For more information on this check out the book, Therapeutic Gardens by Daniel Winterbottom and Amy Wagenfeld

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Fun Gift Idea!

Looking for something different and creative?

How about making a gardening basket?! A packet of seeds, a trowel and set of kids gardening gloves is sure to be a hit. To personalize it, paint the child's name on the trowel with acrylic paint. Put it in a little bucket from the dollar store and you are good to go!

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Here are some fun and ideas to get your family start gardening!

• Grow some potatoes in a plastic bag. No need to dig a bed. Buy some seed potatoes found in garden centers this time of year. Follow the directions in this link. At the end of the growing season, dump up out the bag and be surprised by the potato harvest!

• Grow sunflowers. What child wouldn’t love a flower that towers over their head? Although sunflowers come in all sizes and a variety of colors, children will be love the giant varieties. Cathy James in her book, Garden Classroom, recommends starting the seeds inside and letting them grow until they are about 8 inches tall. This prevents them being gobbled up by birds and squirrels. If you have enough space, you can plant them in the shape of a playhouse.

• Theme gardens are a fun way to make gardening interesting. They can be done in a container or directly in the ground. Maybe a pizza garden with tomatoes, spinach, basil and oregano. Or a salsa garden with tomatoes, peppers, and onions. Rainbow gardens create a feast for the eyes with flowers and foliage in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Butterfly gardens encourage the study of insects. Moon gardens contain flowers that only bloom at night. Ask at your local nursery for suggestions of local varieties.

  Challenge: Plan a garden activity with your child or grandchild. Begin with a visit to a local nursery or garden center.

Outdoor Education - Why Children Benefit From Taking School Outside

There is no doubt that 2020 has been a year filled with anxiety, challenges and uncertainty. Yet another reality is that many adults and children are spending an increased amount of time in front of screens, as workplaces and schools have been thrust into the virtual arena, resulting in a lifestyle that can feel isolated and sedentary. Counteracting this trend is a task that educators now face. Outdoor learning provides the background for safe, rich and meaningful educational experiences. 

“While some might proport that using school time to go outside is taking away from academic advancement, it is actually beneficial to the overall educational experience and well-being of the students.”

As students are returning to in-person learning, teachers, administrators and therapists have a unique opportunity to harness the many benefits of nature for the well-being of the students, as well as adults. With the protocols for safety at the forefront of everyone’s mind, nature is the perfect way to enhance the learning experience in a socially distanced way that also has rich mental health benefits.

While some might proport that using school time to go outside is taking away from academic advancement, it is actually beneficial to the overall educational experience and well-being of the students.

Why Take Children Outside During School?

From a developmental perspective, playing outdoors is an ideal environment to foster physical and cognitive skills necessary for academic success. Physical activity stimulates the connections of neurons in the brain, therefore strengthening the ability to learn. Functional skills such as handwriting, copying notes from the board and paying attention are all dependent on underlying skills that develop as the body moves in all directions. Visual skills, which are crucial for learning, are reinforced through practice. Core stability is foundational to fine and gross motor skills. Wide open green spaces are an invitation for fun and motivating physical activity that strengthens the body. 

Elementary age children are not the only ones who benefit from the outdoors. Middle schoolers and high schoolers alike can benefit mentally and physically from moving and getting outside.  The tremendous value of nature is evidenced by one study that demonstrated that high schoolers who view green spaces outside their classroom window perform academically better than those who don’t. Anxiety levels are reduced and brains are restored when fresh air and green spaces provide a break from cognitive demands.

Utilizing nature in education is not a new concept. Charlotte Mason, well-known British educator during the turn of the twentieth century, included nature study as a core tenet of her education philosophy. She said, “Let them once get in touch with nature and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight and habit through life.” Not only does instilling a sense of awe and wonder of nature foster life-long learners, it has been shown that children who have positive interactions with nature grow up to be better stewards of the environment.

While the actual study of nature itself is necessary and worthwhile, nature gives back to its participants by giving depth and value to their cognitive, spiritual, and social-emotional well-being. By including opportunities to play and learn in outdoor spaces, young minds journey down a path that guides growth in areas such as critical thinking, self regulation and creativity. Open ended outdoor play experiences set the stage for problem solving and self-competence in a way that structured classroom learning cannot provide.

Our world and our nation are under a lot of stress and children are feeling it. Being surrounded by nature is a proven way to reduce stress and anxiety. For students who may feel anxious in a walled classroom, natural spaces provide a place away from the typical academic and social stressors. Studies show that children exhibit decreased negative emotions and an increase in competence and resilience when they partake in outdoor experiences. 

In order to promote learning retention in students, multi-sensory learning is the optimal choice. The more senses that are engaged in the learning experience, the more the learning is reinforced in the brain. Just about any subject can be taken outside and turned into a sensational learning moment. Whether learning math facts by skipping on a number line, digging in the dirt to experience an archaeological expedition or measuring the effects of soil types on plant growth, students can engage their whole bodies to acquire experiential knowledge. Students of all ages can participate in narration exercises using nature as a stage.

What Can Outdoor Learning Look Like?

If the concept of outdoor learning is new to you, it might be difficult to imagine what this can look like. In order to help, her are a few examples of how learning can be enhanced using the outdoors:

• Math Lessons - Practice addition, subtraction or multiplication using natural objects. Practice telling time by drawing a clock face with chalk and using sticks to make the correct time. Write out numbers on the sidewalk and have children skip or hop to practice skip counting.

• Science - take observations of habitats or environments. Create scientific experiments about plant growth or soil content. Track cloud movements or weather patterns. Have children build boats and test buoyancy.

• History - Read historic treaties and documents outdoors. Recreate living spaces or historic practices - such as building a teepee or life in a trench. Build scale models of villages or maps.

• Language Arts - Read poems. Practice spelling words with chalk. Act out stories from literature. Provide time for reading in green spaces.

• Brain Breaks/Free Play - While combining the outdoors with academics is a powerful way to utilize nature, the simple act of playing of just being in the outdoors is advantageous to the health and well-being of students. Not only that, but teachers who under a great deal of stress, can experience the restorative power of the outdoors, as well.

Whether a spontaneous movement break or a planned learning experience, getting children outside provides benefits well beyond the immediate moment. While getting students outside may be something we are being pushed to do because of Covid-19 restrictions, it is a positive gain for education and the well-being of students.

A Note to Virtual Learners

For those families who are still learning virtually, it is especially important to include outdoor time in the daily schedule. Sitting in front of a screen for many hours in a day not only causes stress on the body, strain on the eyes and mental fatigue, it can lead to feelings of isolation. Providing outdoor movement breaks or allowing a child to do their reading outside are simple ways to support a child’s mental and physical health. With a little creativity, fun activities can be added that complement learning.  If you don’t have a yard, plan a visit to a local park or nature center. 

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