How To Get Your Children Into The Garden This Summer!
The summer holidays are here and attempting to get your children into the garden can be a difficult job. You may have to compete with games consoles, computer screens and television shows.
However, bonding with your child over the design and growth of your garden can be more than worth the effort.
Not only will it help you come together and feel comfort in a mutual project, but it can teach your child valuable life lessons such as taking care in a job done, managing the art of patience, as well as taking pride in long term achievements.
There are many ways of enticing a child into the garden. Here are three of them:
Get Them Excited
You know how there is no stopping a child once they are excited! So turn your garden into a fun, creative project. Get your child to draw how they might like the garden to look, helping them feel it as an art project first and foremost. Show them pictures of fruit and vegetables they might like to grow, or the design that they might find the most appealing.
For example, the depth of colour and taste when choosing plum trees for the garden could be considered one of the most appealing perspectives from a child’s point of view. Get them to imagine what the fruits might taste like, what recipes they might like to make. Become excited about the project yourself. Children learn via osmosis. What is the most exciting aspect of gardening for you?
You might couple this effort with lessons about butterflies, feeding wildlife, or many other fascinating topics that your child is interested in.
Schedule Time
Gardens are not farms. It will not require you waking up at 5am to tend to the crops and ensure everything is in order. A couple of hours each weekend morning, or an hour or two in the evenings during the week can be a good time for you and your family to come together. Be sure to schedule this time.
Make a wall chart so everyone in the family can see this. This can help you stay focused, and help you and your family sink into a regular routine to bond together and commit a little work here and there to the blossoming of your green space.
Have Fun!
The best way to get children outdoors is to make things fun! You could make little ornaments for your vegetable patch, or spend the summer nights hosting a barbecue or allowing your children to camp out with their friends. This can help everyone feel connected to the garden space, and think of it less as somewhere they need to go out of duty, but somewhere they feel connected to and WANT to be in.