5 Gardening Tasks for Children

May 3, 2024 | Gardening, Kids, Lifestyle, Summer Issue

Summer vacation is an excellent time to connect children with your home gardens. Involve them with simple stress free garden responsibilities which will keep them physically active, bond with nature, calm their mind and also encourage their sensory development. It increases their observation skills, develops sensitivity to other life forms and of course gives them a chance to understand life sciences in the most real ways. So first step for you as a parent is to build excitement and appoint them as a gardener of the family for summer vacations and list down their tasks. You may lovingly ask them to role play a garden inspector or a water guard. To add fun, play some garden rhymes or music from YouTube!

5 Easy Gardening Tasks

Seed Collector

  • Encourage your children to be seed collectors.
  • Remind them to pull out and collect seeds of fruits and vegetables they eat.
  • Big and medium size seeds like mango, peaches, apricots are ideal to start with.
  • With elder children you may include papaya, tomato, lady finger etc.
  • Ask them to wash the seeds and dry in shade.
  • Then either ask them to store in cool place or let them make seed balls.
  • Collected seeds can be sown at season time.

 

 

Water Guard

Ask them to be their garden’s water guard. Make them responsible to check water requirements and water the plants with a can or hose pipe.

Instructions:

  • Ask them not to pour all the water at once. Water slowly and gently, moving the can all around the pot.
  • Continue until water moves out of the drainage hole below.

Mulch Mulch Mulch!

Mulch is the best way to beat the heat in the garden. It keeps the soil cool and slows down evaporation

Instructions:

  • Give them a jute bag and ask children to collect dry leaves form your own garden or neighbourhood park
  • You may ask them to crush the leaves with hand and make them smaller and manageable.
  • Now ask them to spread a two inch layer evenly in each pot or bed. Make them wear gloves in case leaves have a coarse texture.

Mr. Cleaner

Dead or pale leaves waste plant’s energy so best is to clear them. It’s a light task that children of any age can easily do.

Instructions

  • Instruct them to remove all yellow or burnt out leaves and add it to the soil itself.
  • Fallen leaves can also be collected and used for either composting or added to mulch.

Mr. Pincher

Pinching, pruning and deadheading is important for good flowering and green growth.

Instructions:

  • Ask them to keep a watch on dried flowers or branches and pinch them with hand or cut with garden scissors.
  • Don’t forget to show them new growth in a week’s time.

 

Mr. Inspector

Let them wear the inspector cap to catch the mischievous in the garden. It is important to identify and treat pest to minimise damage.

Instructions:

  • Give them a jute bag, a magnifying glass and ask them to check leaves and stems regularly
  • In case they find any ask them to fill a spray bottle with all purpose solution and and give a good bath to the plant. ( Recipe: 1 litre water, few drops of dish washing liquid and few drops of kitchen oil.
  • Ask them to repeat after 3 days.