Trendy Tots

First lady Michelle Obama planted a vegetable garden two months ago on the White House yard. This has not been done in a long duration but it is something she wished to do with her two young daughters, Sasha and Malia. She figuredt it would be wonderfult to have such close access to fresh vegetables to eatbut she also thought it was important for her girls to learn how to take care of something. Making a garden for children to enjoy and work on is a great gift and one that will give them special memories. There are various kinds of gardens that you can do with your children and in various sizes and locations. If you have a nice flat piece of land, you may want to do a large vegetable garden like the Obamas. If youreside in an urban setting and just have a small outdoor area, planting flowers and vegetables in pots may be themost logical way. If you live in a severely hot or cold climate you may have minimal plants to work on and decorate your garden more with saint statues or Virgin Mary statues. Whatever type of garden you do, the following steps can help you begin.

Once you have decided what kind of garden you want to do with yourkidschildren, you should select the best location. Itneeds to get a lot of sun and not too shaded by trees or a building. The more open the area, the better. If you do not own a power tiller you can rent one from several home improvement store. This will aid in getting the soil all turned up and ready. After you till the soil, use a rake to gently smooth out the area. A chicken wire fence should be installed around the area if you are doing a vegetable one to keep little critters from eating your vegetables. Based on the size of the garden area, pick the amount of plants will fit and what kinds you would like to have. Involve the kids in this decision making part. If you are doing flowers, have the children tell you what their favorite colors are and if you are doing a vegetable garden, get their input of what type of vegetables they want to grow. It is proven that if involved the a vegetable garden, children are more likely to eat vegetables that they grew themselves. If they choose to buy decorations like saint statues or Virgin Mary statues for the garden that is fine too. Once you havepurchased all of the plants, get the children some work gloves and little shovels and have them start digging little holes to plant the seeds and/or plants. Be sure to saturate the garden with water completely and water it every day. Another good project for the kids to do , especially in a vegetable garden is to create marker signs for the plants.

Creating a garden benefits children in giving them responsibility of taking care of a living thing and a sense of pride in being good at it.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!