Encouraging kids to garden, even just tending to a single flower pot on your patio, offers many health benefits. Gardening is another form of play and discovery that promotes many positive outcomes but there is more…..
Therapeutic
Gardening is relaxing. Planting, watering, and tending to plants is a calming activity. Spending time outdoors, enjoying the fresh air, and connecting to nature can have a calming effect on the mind, body, and spirit.
Education
Gardening involves math skills like measuring soil, counting seeds, and spacing plants. It also includes the scientific discovery of observing plant growth, plant changes, and the life cycle of a plant.
Teaches Kids Life Lessons
Gardening encourages responsibility and caring for something other than oneself. Kids learn about patience as they wait for plants to grow. Growing their own fruits and vegetables encourages healthy eating habits. It can also teach them the outcome of hard work.
Confidence
Giving kids their own garden space and allowing them to choose their own flower, vegetable, or herb pot enables kids to develop a sense of ownership and pride.
Kids gardening offers endless learning and enriching experiences, not to mention FUN!
A few of Dramm's product lines are perfectly suited for kids' use: Our 16" Sunrise Rain Wand is lightweight, has a comfortable foam grip, and is perfectly scaled for a child to use. It provides a gentle, full-flow shower for flowers that won't wash away soil or harm tender plants. Our 2 Liter Watering Can has an extra-long spout design to sustain balance and decrease water spillage when the watering can is full. The 2 Liter Watering can rose provides a gentle shower for flowers. The 9-Pattern Revolution Nozzle is great for kids 3-100. It will aid in any outdoor function involving water. Easily switch between water flow selections with the quick-change feature. The Revolution 9-Pattern Nozzle has a one-touch valve, allowing complete and total water flow control with just one touch of your thumb. All these tools are smaller, more lightweight to manage, and come in six eye-catching colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and berry. :)
There are many academic articles on the benefits of kids' gardening. An article from the blog carecourses.com lists several skills that are developed through gardening. These include Self-Confidence, Responsibility and Patience, Nutritional Awareness, Language and Communication, Improved Focus and Memory, Social Skills, and Cooperation.
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By Laura Root
Photos courtesy of Jackson & Perkins
Gardeners are always thinking ahead to the next season or the next year. And, fall is the ideal time to think about spring. Flowering shrubs, perennials and spring bulbs are great choices.
Click here for an interesting article about spring bulbs.
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