Gardening Benefits for Children

These days, we’ve removed ourselves so far from nature that many children believe vegetables come from the supermarket, not from gardens.

Teaching children to garden and become involved in environmentally-friendly activities has many benefits, from teaching children about science and the life cycle to engaging them in quality time with their families. In addition, teaching children to garden helps increase their environmental awareness, which may be crucial in the coming years as our planet faces global warming and other environmental threats.

Here are a few ways that children benefit from gardening activities:

Science

Children learn about the wonders of science when planting a garden. In the garden, children can observe a plant’s life cycle and learn about the different stages of plant development, starting from the seed and ending with a mature plant. When gardening, children learn about the different requirements for plant life, such as soil, water, air and sunlight, and build a strong foundation for future studies in biology and chemistry.

Hard Work

Children can learn the value of discipline and hard work in the garden. Planting a garden requires constant maintenance, including the initial soil preparation, weeding and pest control, and harvesting produce throughout the growing season. Children are rewarded for their hard work with fresh flowers and tasty produce, which reinforces the value their labor.

Relaxation

Working in the garden has a calming influence that reduces stress and anxiety in any age group. Just think about how good you feel after a warm, sunny day spent with your hands deep in the soil. Children can feel this sense of calmness as well, making gardening a great way to unwind from pressures at school or from extracurricular activities. In fact, the therapeutic benefits of gardening are so strong, that gardening has been successfully used as a therapy process for children who have endured abuse or are from broken homes.

Quality Family Time

The peaceful, soothing atmosphere of a garden helps you forget about the stress and strain of the hard work you’re doing. Working together on a shared goal is a great way to increase the bonds between you and your children. You may find that conversations spontaneously pop up between you and your children about school, friends and other aspects of their lives. As you spend time working beside one another in the garden, you’ll learn more about your children and deepen your relationship with them.

Children need to become aware of the needs of the environment and one way to do this is through the environmental education provided by gardening. Gardening helps teach children to enjoy and respect the life around them while you bond with one another as a family.

TheGardenStaff.com is a great resource for information on vegetable gardening, rose gardening, water gardening and more. Let us help your garden grow!