I remember my family had a small garden when I was growing up. I wasn’t very interested in it, and I certainly didn’t appreciate the homegrown tomatoes. I’m pretty sure I thought that gardening was just for grown-ups. 

But now I know the truth! Gardening isn’t just for the adults. It’s absolutely for kids, too. As a matter of fact, I think it should be! Besides getting your kids outside (which is huge in itself), gardening teaches important life skills and provides opportunities for lots of learning, especially when partnered with a garden planner for kids.

Why Gardening Is Great for Kids

I’ve written before about why gardening is a fantastic opportunity for children. Here’s my list of the top 10 reasons:

• Time in nature
• Understanding where food comes from
• Learning patience
• Learning to think creatively and critically
• Creativity
• Encourages healthy eating
• Hands-on science opportunities
• Learning and working alongside each other towards a common goal
• Work that is hard/Exercise
• Sense of accomplishment

How to Get Kids Interested in Gardening

Don’t be disheartened if your child shows little enthusiasm at the outset for gardening. They may view gardening the same way I did-as a purely grown-up endeavor. However, here are some tips that can help kids take ownership of their garden. 

1-Let them pick what they want to grow

Let them browse all the seed packets or the plants in the nursery. See what draws their attention and be willing to give it a try (even if they pick spinach and you know they don’t like spinach). 

2-Allow them their own kid-sized garden space

This one is a biggie. My son and daughter both had their own special garden space via their own raised beds. They decorated with rocks and shells, pinwheels and flowers.

While my son is older now, and just plants what he wants in the larger garden beds, my daughter still has her own bed, and it’s truly her own little plot of earth. Having their own space helps foster ownership and even creativity.

3-Read books about gardening

There are so many great picture books with gardening themes, so this can be a great way to introduce gardening to young kids. Just doing a simple internet search for age-appropriate gardening books will provide you with more than enough results.

A few favorite titles I love include:

We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines

Gardening Lab for Kids Series by Renata Fossen Brown

The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons

Up In the Garden and Down In the Dirt by Kate Messner

A Year in Our New Garden by Gerda Muller

4-Utilize a garden planner for kids

Are you like me and you love getting a new planner? Well, a garden planner with a pretty cover can have the same effect in getting kids excited to garden. Not only can it help kids organize and plan their garden space well, but it can also teach basic life skills, like budgeting and goal setting. 

For more helpful ideas, check out How to Start Gardening With Kids.

It’s Okay to Start Small

If you’re already a gardener, but have never included the kids, just start by encouraging them to join you in the garden. This will be easier for some personality types than others.

I confess that even now, after years of gardening, it can be hard for me to watch kids drop seeds in all the wrong spots, or douse plants that just need a sprinkle. 😬There is inevitably dirty hands and clothes. But, over time I’ve learned those misplaced seeds can be the best surprises, and dirty hands and clothes can be washed.

Introducing the Garden Planner for Kids Printable

Gardening is a love of mine, and I treasure the connection I have with my kids around the garden. I want to encourage moms to get their kids in the garden, too. For several years, I wanted to make a garden planner that’s perfect for the kiddos. I finally did!

This garden planner has all the best pages you could need. It features super cute, colorful graphics. Here’s what’s included:

• Garden space planning pages
• Garden goals tracker
• Plants to grow tracker (plant ideas included!)
• Pages to record what’s growing
• Gardening to-do lists (daily, weekly, monthly)
• Undated garden calendar
• Garden journals to chart progress and observations
• Shopping list and budget worksheets
• Plant rating sheets (what was great and what wasn’t)
• Garden books tracker
• Garden recipe crds
• Pest investigation worksheet
• Gardening certificate

This planner is flexible for kids of all ages (and honestly, could work just fine for you, too!)

How to Use a Garden Planner for Kids in Your Homeschool

A garden planner for kids can be a great tool to use in your homeschool. Here are a few ideas:

Gardening Unit Study

You can pair the pages of your garden planner with other materials to create your own mini unit study. For example, use a garden observation page to practice handwriting, art, or nature sketching. Add in a few videos or books that explore garden topics such as garden pests.

For example, when pests perpetrate the garden🐛 (they inevitably show up), use a pest investigation page to research garden pests and diseases, as well as remedies. Practice math skills with garden budgeting worksheets. You can even add in a field trip to a local nursery.

Individual Subjects

Use pages from a kids garden planner in place of your regular math or science. Budgeting for supplies and keeping track of spending puts abstract math skills into practice. Keeping a neat ledger of what’s planted in the garden is perfect handwriting practice.

Nature Study/Nature Sketching

The garden provides a plethora of items for sketching-flowers, insects, seedlings, birds, etc. Draw the progress of seeds from dirt to seedlings to harvest as part of your regular nature study.

For more ideas, check out How to Include Gardening in Your Homeschool. 

Ideas to Boost Your Garden Fun

Gardening doesn’t have to involve only time spent working in the dirt. There are plenty of ideas to bring gardening to life for the kids, and inspire sparks of interest and imagination.  

Here are some creative ideas:

• Visit a plant nursery
• Visit a community garden
• Talk with a gardener in your neighborhood
• Gather recipes to try when your harvest is ready
• Look through gardening books from the library
• Volunteer in a local garden
• Grow vegetables and donate them to a food pantry
• Share your harvest with friends and neighbors
• Grow flowers and take them to a local nursing home
• Invite friends over to help you gather the harvest
• Keep a video journal of your garden’s progress
• Take photos of your garden and put into an album
• Paint, read, picnic, nap, etc., in or near the garden
• Make a garden just for the rabbits, birds, and other animals to eat from
• Watch movies that have garden tie-ins (Peter Rabbit, The Secret Garden, A Bug’s Life)

Grab Your Gardening Planner for Kids

Don’t forget to check out👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻 my garden planner for kids. While a garden planner for kids isn’t required for garden learning or fun, it can provide lots of benefits to your gardening experience with kids.

While you could create your own, this one is done for you and it won’t break the bank. If anything, I hope it inspires you to get started gardening with the kids, or even take your gardening adventures to the next level.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is so much waiting for you and your family as you embark on gardening adventures together. I hope a garden planner for kids will inspire you with confidence and creativity to get started! Here’s to a great gardening season and a wonderful harvest to feed your family and your soul!