Gardening – Jam packed Learning (part II)

3. Hands-on learning about plants:

I know this is the obvious one. But just as a reminder, you would be amazed at the amount of things children learn from simply watching their plants. Forget about those stuffy worksheets to label plant parts, in no time even your toddler will be telling all the different plant parts. If you have got perennials or trees they can see how leaves change color, then fall off etc.

4. ….. and about Bugs:

Yes! they learn a lot about these little friends and foes. If you are doing it the organic way (no insecticides etc) you would probably want to attract the friendly bugs and plant some other plants to repel the foes. So children learn which bugs eat what etc! also they learn about the role of insects and birds in the pollination. If your children are interested you can actually start the topic of eco-system here.

5. Physical Fitness:

Gardening is hard work especially if you are doing it the green way and don’t want to use those useful little bottles of insecticides and weed-killers! pulling out weed alone is sort of workout for mums themselves!

6. Eating Vegetables:

Lots of children who don’t like eating vegetables as a rule of thumb, actually start eating their own harvest. The whole idea behind introducing vegetables and fruits to picky eaters is to get them interested in the veggies, some parents use the colors of veggies and others use fairytales to grab the attention of children. But planting and harvesting your own vegetables can do wonders!