12 | RMPARENT

healthy living

Kids are natural gardeners: They’re curious, like to learn by doing, and love to play in

the dirt.Playing outdoors is fun and

healthy for everyone. Increase the amount of time your family is outside by making your garden an appealing outdoor space. Involve your children. They can help older family members build a garden starting at 2 or 3. Even better, they can plant their own patch and experience the satisfaction of caring for something alive while observing the cycle of life firsthand. Christine Ginnity, Youth Programs Coordinator at Fort Collins’ Gardens on Spring Creek says, “Gardening is kind of like having a pet; it ’s an opportunity for kids to take care of something growing.”

Here are some suggestions for mak-ing gardening enjoyable for children:

sTAkE A CLAiM Section off a corner of the garden or yard where a child can do as he or she pleases. It doesn’t have to be designed or even particularly attractive, just separate. This individual plot will become a source of pride and sense of responsibility for younger gardeners.

LET ThEM ChOOsE ThEiR bOuNTY Letting kids select which plants they’d like to grow creates instant buy-in. Most often, these will be plants and foods they recognize, such as cucumbers, carrots, or pumpkins. Plants with large seeds, such as peas or beans are easiest for small hands to sow. While it’s important to let your child take the lead, offer sug-gestions that you know will tweak their interest. For example, although radish seeds are small and few kids love to eat them, they offer almost instant growth and harvest.

iNCORPORATE LEARNiNg EvERYwhEREThere are endless ways to make the gar-den a learning environment. Concepts of nutrition, nurturing, and cooking are obvious connections for most, but also try teaching art by making signposts, astron-omy by making a sundial, math by mea-suring distance between rows and plants.

hiDiNg PLACEs ARE A wiNKids love small spaces and places to hide. Construct a tepee from tall poles and twine and cover it with climbing beans and flowers. Building a special room by planting a circle of tall sunflow-ers is another favorite and, in Colorado

climate, easy to do. Remember to leave an opening for a door!

DON’T MAkE iT A ChOREMake gardening fun, not work. Offer encouragement and how-to, but go easy on overly detailed advice. Model the way rather than imposing direction; if a child sees you at work in the garden, he or she will want to imitate what you do. Show your kids it’s fun to get dirty!

REAL AND LONg-TERM bENEfiTsStudies have repeatedly shown that chil-dren who grow their own food are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables and exhibit higher levels of knowledge about nutrition. They are also more likely to continue healthy eating habits through-out their lives. Christine Ginnity says, “Studies prove kids are more likely to try new foods when they see them grow.” Even Brussels sprouts, she noted, which are usually a hard sell, are well liked by kids when they have participated in growing them.

Establishing a connection to nature is important for any child’s develop-ment. Children who develop regard and concern for the natural world are more likely to develop respect for the envi-ronment and all of its resources. Ginnity says, “Kids’ involvement in gardening is multifaceted. It includes getting fresh air, learning new things, and is a sneaky way to get some exercise as kids bend, move, and shovel.”

For a novice, planting a garden can be intimidating. But it’s actually a pretty easy project to tackle, and one that’s en-hanced by having kids participate. There is more than enough time to get seeds in the ground. According to Ginnity, May 16 is roughly the final frost date in Northern Colorado. Until then, start your seedlings indoors and start map-ping your project!

endless natural bounty Dig into gardening for family time and hands-on learning

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