We all know the benefits of fresh air and outdoor activities. There are times when parents have to f...

Gardening can benefit children of all ages because it provides a great learning opportunity and equips them with key skills that can help them in other areas of their lives. Here are some of the key benefits that children can experience by helping out in the garden.

The Benefits of Gardening with Kids

There is a myriad of benefits your kids will gain while planting and caring for your garden:

Gardening is Science

Seeing the wonders of a growing garden may inspire your child to ask questions such as: Why do plants need sunlight? How do plants “drink” water? Why do the leaves turn yellow and fall off? Why are bugs good/bad for plants? Soon you’ll be talking about soil composition, photosynthesis, and much more.

Gardening activities activate children’s senses and motor skills

In the garden, in addition to being able to touch the soil and use various tools and seeds, children can discover differences between plants in color and size and shape, smell different smells and hear different insects. Interacting with the nature around them encourages the learning process. Activities such as playing with soil, hoes and buckets, digging, planting, watering, and pulling weeds stimulate physical movement, especially of the arms and hands. These activities contribute to the development of motor skills, and through their own experiences, children learn what is difficult and what is easy, small or large, smooth or rough, cold or warm, dry or wet.

Gardening Helps Kids Learn to Plan and Organize

Some plants grow better at certain times of the year. Other plants grow well next to another specific plant. Some plants grow well in rows while others, like wildflower seeds, can be scattered around. What should you plant to keep flowers blooming in the yard? What shape makes the most sense to trim shrubs into? Gardening is an opportunity to talk with your children about research and planning.

Gardening Makes Children More Resistant

Children love to put their hands and feet in the dirt, which may run counter to modern parents’ compulsive style of keeping hands and surfaces clean and sanitized. However, digging in the dirt can make children healthier.

Some studies have shown that children raised on farms do not have respiratory allergies, asthma or autoimmune diseases like children raised in urban areas because children living on farms are exposed to more of the microbes and fungi found in dirt. Getting kids outside and exposed to dirt may actually make them healthier than keeping a neat, clean indoor environment.

Gardening Fosters Healthy Eating Habits

Planting and nurturing plants, picking vegetables and fruits, washing vegetables, and involving children in making food from the plants they helped grow will certainly create a desire to try and eat the food they make. They will be happy to try the vegetables and fruits they grow and nurture themselves. This is the best way for children to learn about the importance of healthy food and a proper diet.

Gardening Builds a Sense of Confidence

Gardening helps children feel more empowered. It’s great for building a child’s sense of competence and confidence because they are engaging in a real-life activity that they may have previously thought only adults could do.

Give any child the experience of putting a small seed in a hole, watering it, protecting it, and watching it burst into life and grow, and they may feel like they have magic powers!

Gardening Helps Relieve Stress for the Whole Family

Gardens can be therapeutic. Even children can feel stress, and gardens are good for eliminating it. In fact, a Dutch study showed that after 30 minutes of gardening, subjects who exhibited stress before gardening had a “fully recovered” positive mood. And, if the adults in the family are feeling stressed while they garden with their children, it can help the whole family feel more harmonious.

Reference:

Dig This: 10 Big Benefits of Gardening with Kids. (2020, June 24). BC Parent Newsmagazine. https://bcparent.ca/activities/10-benefits-of-gardening-with-kids/

Flavin, B. (2016, April 11). Gardening for Kids: 7 Reasons Planting Seeds Enriches Their Lives | Rasmussen University. Rasmussen University. https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/gardening-for-kids-benefits/

Get Your Hands Dirty! Here are 10 Benefits of Gardening with Kids. (2020, April 1). Macaroni KID National. https://national.macaronikid.com/articles/584ee953599b572c01fd11a3/get-your-hands-dirty-here-are-10-benefits-of-gardening-with-kids

Kids, P. (2021, February 16). Gardening With Kids: How It Affects Your Child’s Brain, Body and Soul | Parenting Tips & Advice. PBS KIDS for Parents. https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/gardening-with-kids-how-it-affects-your-childs-brain-body-and-soul

Zečević, V. (2021, June 10). Benefits of Gardening for Children. Novak Djokovic Foundation. https://novakdjokovicfoundation.org/benefits-of-gardening-for-children/