On The Cover Susie’s Garden Fun for kids
Give children a love of growing with their own patch to plant
One of my earliest memories is of picking vegetables in the garden of my pre-school and eating sweet-tasting peas straight from the pod. It’s so important that kids have that kind of experience. Many schools now have gardens that are used for teaching curriculum subjects: life cycles, the food chain, water and weather, maths and healthy eating.
School gardening has been shown to have a positive effect on children’s behaviour. It encourages team work, creativity, dexterity and patience. Through sowing, planting and harvesting, kids learn where their food comes from.
There’s a magic in digging potatoes out of the earth or in snacking on strawberries warm from the sun. As a child I was allowed my own small border where I grew plants such as nasturtiums and forget-me-nots. No doubt these experiences helped me to make gardening my career.
To encourage them, give kids their own patch – a raised bed is ideal, or a large container – and child-sized garden tools (see right).
Annual flowers such as cosmos, sunflowers and marigolds are quick and easy to grow. Lamb’s ears have silvery soft leaves that are wonderful to touch. Lavender and rosemary are beautifully scented. A bamboo corner is s a place for hide and seek, an nd living willow can be used to make a den.
Children can create their r own tiny gardens in a seed tray. Moss can make a ‘law n’, gravel a path, sticks a fence e, blue pebbles a stream and lichen or bits of conifer become shrubs. Add doll’s s house furniture or the brid dge from a fish tank; children lovel using their imagination.