To along with our earth week theme, I wanted to share another great way to bond as a family: gardening!
Working out in the yard together can be both work and play. For instance, try planting a garden together. It's so fun to watch something you planted grow and then reap the benefits too! Plus, we all know that home grown is always so much tastier than store bought.
You don't even need to have a big yard or a lot of space to plant a garden, you can use pots or other raised garden beds. Also, not far from where we live there are community garden plots that you can rent for spring and summer, and they are pretty inexpensive considering how much produce you can harvest later in the season! It's worth checking out to see if your community has a garden or garden plots too.
Here's how you can get the whole family involved in your garden. First, get everyone involved from the beginning. When your planning your garden, let each person pick something they would like to grow. Pumpkins, zucchini, and large sun flowers are a few fun plants our family likes to grow. Other plants that are really fun to harvest are cherry tomatoes, carrots, peas, strawberries, etc. because you can simply pick the fruit or veggie, rinse, and eat! No prep!
*This could also be a cool science project for kids to plant a small seed and watch it grow. They can also simultaneously learn responsibility as they take care of their plants to water, and weed them.
The most exciting part of gardening when the plants start producing!
*Or, instead of a vegetable garden, you could plan a flower garden. It's also fun to see the beautiful flowers altogether or experiment with new varieties like those that attract butterflies or humming birds. It makes for a very relaxing atmosphere to have a little bit of nature in your very own yard.
Of course there are lots of our things for kids to discover and learn about as they are helping out in the yard. For instance, if you can convince your kids to help you weed, they could discover all kinds of cool little bugs hiding near the plants. What kid can't resist looking at snails, rolly pollies, or worms! It is fun to learn about insects. In the past when we've found caterpillars, we'll look it up on the internet to find out what it will look like when it turns into a butterfly. It can be a great learning opportunity for both you and your kids. You can easily look up some quick info about praying mantis, ants, butterflies, spiders or any other bugs your child finds or really likes.
Working in the yard and discovering bugs is also a good time to teach children respect for nature and other living things. As adults, it's good advice to not over react when we find less than pleasant creepy crawlys outside like, try not to scream, act scared, hurt or squish the bugs. They are there for a reason and, for the most part, are more good than bad. For instance, many people don't like spiders (my sister included). But spiders help eat other bad insects from killing our plants, so they are actually great for our gardens.
There is so much fun you can have outside in the garden. Enjoy it together!
Working out in the yard together can be both work and play. For instance, try planting a garden together. It's so fun to watch something you planted grow and then reap the benefits too! Plus, we all know that home grown is always so much tastier than store bought.
You don't even need to have a big yard or a lot of space to plant a garden, you can use pots or other raised garden beds. Also, not far from where we live there are community garden plots that you can rent for spring and summer, and they are pretty inexpensive considering how much produce you can harvest later in the season! It's worth checking out to see if your community has a garden or garden plots too.
Here's how you can get the whole family involved in your garden. First, get everyone involved from the beginning. When your planning your garden, let each person pick something they would like to grow. Pumpkins, zucchini, and large sun flowers are a few fun plants our family likes to grow. Other plants that are really fun to harvest are cherry tomatoes, carrots, peas, strawberries, etc. because you can simply pick the fruit or veggie, rinse, and eat! No prep!
*This could also be a cool science project for kids to plant a small seed and watch it grow. They can also simultaneously learn responsibility as they take care of their plants to water, and weed them.
The most exciting part of gardening when the plants start producing!
*Or, instead of a vegetable garden, you could plan a flower garden. It's also fun to see the beautiful flowers altogether or experiment with new varieties like those that attract butterflies or humming birds. It makes for a very relaxing atmosphere to have a little bit of nature in your very own yard.
Of course there are lots of our things for kids to discover and learn about as they are helping out in the yard. For instance, if you can convince your kids to help you weed, they could discover all kinds of cool little bugs hiding near the plants. What kid can't resist looking at snails, rolly pollies, or worms! It is fun to learn about insects. In the past when we've found caterpillars, we'll look it up on the internet to find out what it will look like when it turns into a butterfly. It can be a great learning opportunity for both you and your kids. You can easily look up some quick info about praying mantis, ants, butterflies, spiders or any other bugs your child finds or really likes.
Working in the yard and discovering bugs is also a good time to teach children respect for nature and other living things. As adults, it's good advice to not over react when we find less than pleasant creepy crawlys outside like, try not to scream, act scared, hurt or squish the bugs. They are there for a reason and, for the most part, are more good than bad. For instance, many people don't like spiders (my sister included). But spiders help eat other bad insects from killing our plants, so they are actually great for our gardens.
There is so much fun you can have outside in the garden. Enjoy it together!
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