Get Your Kids to Dig Gardening: 6 Easy Ways to Cultivate Their Green Thumb
Get Your Kids to Dig Gardening: 6 Easy Ways to Cultivate Their Green Thumb
Author: Trust for Public Land
Kids these days are digital natives, raised with and surrounded by devices. That said, we’re all still learning to use technology responsibly — and many of us hope to decrease our family’s use.
There’s something to be said for sensory-rich experiences in the real world — touching, smelling, hearing, and even tasting the bounty of nature. There’s no better break from the fast pace of modern life than the occasional analog activity, especially one that’s been around since the Neolithic Revolution. Swapping even an hour of screen time for green time can help keep the whole family grounded and moving.
So, how do you cultivate a green thumb in your young ones? Here are a few ideas that keep the commitment level low and the curiosity high.
1. Grow plants — and civic pride:
Test the waters by signing your family up for a volunteer day at a community garden. Kids can help with simple tasks like watering or clearing debris — and also get a chance to plant seeds or bulbs and harvest mature crops alongside neighbors and friends. It’s a great hands-on way to see the full life cycle of flowers and foods. Afterward, talk to your kids about what they liked (or didn’t) and shape future gardening experiences around their interests.
2. Help school ‘em:
Check in with your kids’ teachers or school. More and more schools are building learning gardens — outdoor spaces where science lessons can take root, and families can help out during breaks. These spaces are part of a growing community schoolyard movement that’s creating climate-smart green play areas open to everyone. A garden like this invites connection across generations and deepens kids’ ties to their community.
3. Fend off invaders:
Give your kids a crash course in identifying common weeds or invasive species (leaf shape is a place to start) and make a game of pulling up as many unwanted plants as possible. As you play, teach kids that they don’t want weeds stealing nutrients and water from cultivated species. Make sure they have gloves and maybe a handheld weeding tool to help pull the tougher buggers up by the roots.
4. Become broadcast masters:
Broadcasting seeds can be a lot of fun — especially for the less orderly children in your life. Provide a handful of seeds, or coach them on using a spreader, and let them at a patch of prepared ground. Lightly raking and watering afterward can provide a tidy sense of closure.
5. Dead heads:
We’re not talking about jam bands here. To “dead heads” is to remove spent flower heads and encourage more blooms for a longer flowering season. Give kiddos a foam mat to kneel on and have them work their way around the garden plucking wilted flower tops. This task can be oddly satisfying.
6. Discover nature’s best teams:
Here’s one for scientifically curious or artistically inclined kids. Ask them to look at flower shapes and imagine what types of birds or bugs might fit best (the term for this is “pollinator syndromes,” or flower traits that attract certain species, including scent, color, and shape). Consider the beak of a hummingbird and flowers with narrow, trumpet-shaped blooms. This could even turn into a fun drawing activity for the kids.
Gardens help people get outside, and that’s worth celebrating in and of itself. Spending time outdoors improves people’s health, nurtures their joy, and strengthens their connection to nature and one another. And gardening is something you can start at any point in your life and continue doing for years to come at whatever level is manageable for you. Join Trust for Public Land on their mission to create and protect places that bring people outside — parks, trails, playgrounds, and public lands — so everyone can experience the outdoors in ways that are meaningful to them.
