Gardening with Kids: How to Get Children Hooked on Plants

Children love anything that grows before their eyes. A bed of their own teaches patience and responsibility and shows where food comes from. The key is to choose plants that give quick results and to make care a game rather than a chore. For more ideas, see gifts for gardeners.

Gifts for a young gardener: flowers for children and potted plants.

View full-size photo

What to plant

Early success matters most. Cress on a windowsill sprouts within days, radishes are ready in about a month, and the big seeds of beans, peas and sunflowers are easy for small fingers. Bright, easy flowers such as nasturtiums, marigolds and calendula keep going all summer.

View full-size photo

Setting up a child’s bed

• Their own space. A small bed or a few boxes with a name sign.
• Child-sized tools. A light watering can, trowel and rake for small hands.
• An observation diary. A photo or drawing each week: when it sprouted, how it grew, when it flowered.
• Short tasks. Water, count leaves, find the first flower — 10–15 minutes beats an hour of work.

Project ideas

• A sunflower house. Plant sunflowers in a square, leaving a “door”, and by late summer you have a living hut.
• A bean teepee. Tie several poles together at the top and plant a climbing bean at the foot of each.
• A bug hotel. A box of hollow stems, cones and bark attracts helpful insects.
• A herbarium. Collected leaves and flowers can be pressed and mounted in an album.

View full-size photo

Safety

Keep poisonous plants out of a children’s plot: foxglove, lily of the valley, castor bean, datura and monkshood. Teach children to taste only what an adult has said is safe. Wear gloves, a sun hat and sunscreen, and wash hands after gardening. Store fertilisers and pesticides out of children’s reach.

Learn how to press your finds in how to make a herbarium, how to make a moss-ball planter in kokedama, and which houseplants survive children’s care in hard-to-kill houseplants.

FAQ

At what age can children start gardening?

From about 3–4 years old they can water and sow big seeds with adult supervision.

What can we do in winter?

Grow cress and spring onions on a windowsill, or sprout beans in a clear glass to watch the roots.

Author: Maria Svitlovir

Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.

About the author →