Summer is coming and that means that the kids are out of school and looking for something to do. It’s a great time to help them learn to enjoy the garden and get involved. Gardening can be more than just chores, though many kids love to help out. Here is a list of kid-appropriate garden chores as well as a few fun project ideas for summer!
Kid-friendly chores:
- Picking flowers & deadheading, either for decoration inside or to eliminate weeds like dandelions.
- Harvesting edibles: kids love to pick berries and snap peas or dig up potatoes!
- Weeding: show them the fun of digging out the whole root! You can even offer a prize for every 10 weeds pulled.
- Watering: they love to watch the soil turn colors and to think about giving thirsty plants a drink.
Design a Pizza Garden
Project Ideas:
- Start seeds (of their choice) indoors in egg cartons or little pots. Great flower seeds for kids include big seeds and quick germinators like nasturtium, sunflowers & morning glories. Quick growing beans, peas, and squash (especially pumpkins) are a great and rewarding way to introduce edible gardening to kids. Have the kids nurture and monitor the growth each week.
- Plant a bean teepee or a sunflower circle, where kids can hide and play all summer long.
- Paint rocks or signs to use as markers in the vegetable garden.
- Start a small food bank garden, where kids can grow the vegetables of their choice to donate.
- Design a “pizza pie garden” by plotting out a circle with wedges, then plant crops that you would use to make a pizza, such as tomatoes, basil, oregano, bell peppers and whatever other veggies you like on your pizza!
- Plant quick-growing plants like radishes, lettuce and cosmos so kids can see their plants grow, day by day.