Special Gardening Teaches Responsibility

Responsibility Grounds Kids

If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.

-   Abigail Van Buren

One way to teach age appropriate responsibility is to grow some tolerant plants that require little care for little children.

Outdoor Garden

  If you are planting a summer family garden select plants that germinate quickly, produce a crop quickly, and require minimum maintenance other than watering and feeding. There are a few plants that follow those criteria: snap peas, sun flowers, radishes, marigolds, 

Select Plants 

cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, carrots, and potatoes. Read and follow the directions on the package together. Examine the seeds and explain that there is a plant inside. Set plants are also available.

   In the case of potatoes explain that they are tubers, the swollen parts of underground stems. When you plant these tubers, the eyes (stems)will grow to create a new plant. Petunias, pansies, and fragrant herbs are also good choices for young children.

   Families can teach care based on needs like appropriate soil, sunlight, nutrients, enough water on a consistent basis, feeding, and protection from animals, insects, and weeds.

Planting Succulents

  Succulents can be enjoyed year around indoors and are very tolerant. There are 6000 varieties in 25 families. Some of them have flowers. They are beautiful, interesting, and sometimes strange looking arid plants so let the soil completely dry out like a dessert. Then water them like a sudden rain storm one evening and let them totally dry out again for weeks or months.

  To plant, find a large wide bowl or pot preferably with a few holes in the bottom for drainage. Mix a little sand in the potting soil to make it more porous and choose from a large variety of succulents. Children can plant a number of small ones and add tiny natural gravel or stones on top of the soil. They can add a few Lego people, too.

 Avoid high temperatures though.

Enjoy Succulents Year Round

Some of the most popular are hens and chicks, the multi colored rose shaped echeveria, burro’s tail, panda plant, spikey aloe, kalanchoe that has babies on the end of its leaves, curly succulents, rows of beads, baby toes, and many color choices. Succulent cacti should probably be avoided until children are much older.

  The most enjoyable part of succulents may be visiting stores with children and adding to the garden. Tiny ones are usually inexpensive and make great gifts.

 However, if your children like to water, try another child friendly plant like bamboo, not succulents. They come in many varieties and shapes and are fast growing. Whatever the choice, young children will be able to watch over and care for their plants with probable success.

  For more ideas to nurture responsibility see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons pod casts and live, Pinterest, and Facebook.
Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Planting Bulbs Fun with Children

  

As You Prepare for Winter -- Plant!!

Preparing for winter is another opportunity to teach young children science, geography, and economics. Families can plant flower bulbs that will seem like magic to little ones and teach valuable skills.

Planting Together

   Explain that you are planting flowers to surprise everyone in the spring.  Walk around the yard and discuss where flower bulbs could be planted based on good soil, water, sunshine and visibility through windows.

   Shop together for bulb varieties like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, narcissus, crocus, and alliums. Discuss colors and check for healthy and fresh bulbs. Discuss that wild animals like to eat bulbs and flowers. If you have many animals, you might want to stick to daffodils and narcissus. Squirrels and chipmunks may also move bulbs around. 

  Make a big deal of reading the planting directions on the back of the package out loud. Read the steps several times out loud and plan the planting sequence together. 

Follow & Discuss the Directions Fully

 Who will do each step?

   Examine the bulbs and notice texture and size.  Explain there is a small plant inside that stays cool all winter and then will grow when the temperature gets warmer. Where is the pointed side of the bulb that must face up?  What will come from the pointed side? (stem) What will come from the round bottom side? (roots)

  Discuss and create a planting assembly line. Make a single hole for each, large circle, or a trench five inches deep.  With the pointed side up. Sketch a quick map of the flower types and where they are placed. Cover up with soil and give it a few gentle “love pats”.

  When all of the bulbs are planted, water well and cover with mulch, leaves, or both.  Discuss that the soil, leaves, and snow will keep the bulbs warm just like a blanket.

 Teaching Young Gardeners

Draw a Map of Your Ideal Flower Beds

  Gardening teaches children many skills. Young children learn economics by making a planned purchase and checking out prices and quality of their plants.  Adults can show the value of reading directions, writing a list, and following directions. Children can make a 

geographic map to show how beautiful the yard will be. They learn how plants grow and how animals and humans interact in the environment. Children increase science vocabulary and have quality conversations with adults. Your family may want to volunteer for a community or religious beautification project or read library books about plants and children’s gardens.
photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Kids Make Gardens Elegant

Garden stones - fdarling fotos

 It takes patience to grow a garden. Although children are energetic, creative, and curious, they seldom are patient. While waiting for something to happen, families can do activities like these sparkling decorative spheres to keep gardening interest fresh.
  Transition Students in Marquette, their teachers, and helpers, especially Cookie, shared some garden decorations ideas to place among plants.
Concrete Sparkle Spheres
  All ages enjoy making these concrete decorative balls for gardens and window boxes. Take children along to visit a craft section of a store and purchase Styrofoam balls.  They come in many sizes perfect for containers or large plant beds. Discuss what size you’ll need for possible locations. You can even take along a ruler to measure the diameter from edge to edge of the spheres.
  You will also need grout.  The easiest to use comes premixed in a container. Check that the container states it is suitable for outdoors. For decorations, purchase sparkling craft stones that are flat on one side.
  Children can glue the sparkle stones to all sides of the sphere.  Gorilla type glue seems to work the best.  Teach children that a “dot does a lot” so there is not a dripping mess.  Children may work better with glue in a dish and Popsicle stick for a spreader. There is no rule for how close or far apart the gems should be. Remind everyone not to place their hands in their mouth, however.
  While creating, carry on conversations about plants and summer plans. Doing an art project like this helps children open up and teaches them how to discuss topics with adults.
  Allow the gems to dry on the spheres while doing an active activity together. Then cover the spheres with grout according to the directions on the container.  Try not to totally cover all of the gems since when the grout is dry the excess must be wiped off gently with a cloth.  This is similar to putting grout on bathroom tiles and having to clean off the tiles when the grout is dry.
  These spheres make excellent gifts for any

Garden Walk- fdarling fotos

gardener.  They should be taken in for winter, but are quite hardy.
Stepping Stones
  Gardens are often mine fields for children. They want to help but don’t know where to put their feet or how to prevent falling on a plant.  Families can lessen garden anxiety and plant damage by decorating with a stepping stone path. Purchase some cheap concrete tiles found at hardware stores or pick up some large flat rocks. Children can paint or decorate them with sparkle gems and stones.  Place them in the garden to make a stepping stone path through plants so they can water, help weed, and harvest plants.
 Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Fun and Learning: Lasagna Gardening

fdarling fotos

Fall is a great time to get out and garden with your kids and grandkids even if there is a little snow. It is not too late to make new successful garden plot with good soil. Children will hardly be able to wait until spring to start planting.

  Patricia Lanza has an easy way to make new garden beds and start the process for growing beautiful, healthy plants: Lasagna Gardening! Families can start late into the fall even though there is snow since there is no tilling, digging or weeding involved. Children will be layering newspaper, cardboard and other biodegradables right on top of the grass patch you want to turn into your new bed. These materials breakdown and also eventually provide food for worms, essential to making healthy nutrient-rich soil.

  Start by talking and thinking with children, making a list as you go. What do you need for plants to grow besides good soil: sun, water, and warm temperatures. Where do you have all these things in your yard? How big is this space? How much do you want to plant? Will you have room? Talk about favorite vegetables and flowers. Think about their colors and plants sizes. Will these plants grow in your area?

  Now plan and gather materials for the layers. To get good soil composition, you need some dry brown materials (carbon) and some fresher green materials (nitrogen). Do you have old of newspaper or cardboard with no colored or glossy pages? What about leaves, hay, other garden waste or grass clippings, peat moss, pine needles, saw dust, wood ashes? You can also work in other kitchen compost: coffee grounds, eggshells, and tea bags. Do not use pet waste.

  When you have gathered all the materials you found, it’s time to create your layers. Wet down layers of old newspaper and lay out over the area you chose for your garden, 5 or more sheets thick. Layer one is leaves, peat moss or other dry brown organic material on top of the newspaper. Then spread a thin layer of green or compost materials. Repeat this process until you build 5” to 12” of layers. This will give enough depth to allow room for the roots of your new plants to grow.

  Finally, water until spongy. You can cover with plastic and a few rocks.

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 In the spring, the layers will have settled and be ready to plant when the ground has thawed and danger of frost has passed. In a future article we will talk about painting stones, and borders to place in your spring garden. Kids love painting and making colorful garden containers, a good wintertime activity.

  Particia Lanza has many more garden preparation tips on her web page and book called “Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding!” or find Patricia's How To site: http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htm

Photos: Fran Darling-fdarling fotos

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Children Love Container Gardening

fdarling fotos

When there is a weird weather year, container gardening is a good solution for a family who has a small space, poor soil, or simply wants to start gardening. Container planting is perfect for children and a great family teaching tool. The pots can be moved around as needed.

What To Do:

  Check out library books about plants and gardening. Draw some plant parts and discuss their jobs. Teach young children some vocabulary.  Annuals only grow one year, but kids may collect the seeds of annuals like marigolds and plant them again next year. Perennials like daisies and coneflowers may come back next year if left in a warm garage.

  Show children how to study the back of seed packets. How long will the plants take to grow? Look for the shortest growing season. How much space will they need?  Follow packet directions.  

   Start with just a few containers and try your luck. Practically any type of container can be used to grow plants as long as it holds potting soil (not garden soil), a little plant fertilizer, can drain water, and is large enough to accommodate the growing plants and roots.

Teach Principles of Growing

  Most plants need about six hours of sunshine. Lettuce and spinach need a little less. Place the plants in a space where they will not be too hot and killed. They can be moved if children discover it is the wrong spot.

 Vegetables require larger pots than annual flowers. Tomatoes, for example, grow well in 5-gallon buckets. Peppers will grow in containers about 8 inches in diameter and 10 inches tall. Beets need eight inches of soil. Carrots need twelve inches for their long roots.

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 Containers filled with plants like mixed lettuce seeds are a good way to start young children gardening. Choose several large pots. Mix small seeds with a little soil. Fill pots with potting soil, plant seeds, and water gently. Cover the pots with plastic wrap secured with a large rubber band until seeds start sprouting. Then move the pots into the sun.

Plant Care

  Plants need just the right amount of water and fertilizer. Teach children not to drown plants in mud nor let them wilt. The soil should make a moist crumbly ball. Children can stick their finger in the soil to test for moisture and then wash their hands.

  Children may not like to eat lettuce yet, but they will enjoy cutting fresh lettuce for family meals. Mixed greens offer a variety of colors and tastes.  Even if they only eat one leaf, teach children to wash the edible plants and their hands before eating. 

   Other easy plants to grow are beans, peas, herbs, gourds for fall decoration and to sell, petunias, and small sunflowers. To discourage rabbits, deer, and squirrels plant marigolds, too. (Planting part two is next time.)

For more information see grandparentsteachtoo.org.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Ideas and Activities See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.