{"id":28132,"date":"2018-07-07T09:55:11","date_gmt":"2018-07-07T13:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/garden-goddess\/?p=28132"},"modified":"2018-07-07T09:55:11","modified_gmt":"2018-07-07T13:55:11","slug":"kids-gardening-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/garden-goddess\/2018\/07\/kids-gardening-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Kids Gardening Lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Late last month we witnessed the closing of Toys R Us, the retail giant where I spent many hours\u00a0 purchasing the latest toys during my girls’ childhood years.\u00a0 That little jingle: “I want to be a toys r us kid” still resonates in my memory banks.\u00a0 And although I am saddened by the\u00a0 demise of this once robust purveyor of toys to the ease of today’s one click shopping, it reminded me that children’s play can be found outside the confines of manufactured toys.\u00a0 Garden spaces offer hours of\u00a0 valuable “kids gardening lessons” for the developing child.<\/p>\n

The natural flow of the all season garden can offer a child the visual, touch and movement that far surpasses the sensory experiences provided by the plastic manufactured toy.\u00a0 Early this spring, I discovered my granddaughter preferred to find the emerging crocus in my garden bed over the overpriced shape sorter with bells and whistles!.\u00a0 I found it fascinating at 10 months old, to observe her natural instinct to grasp and bring the flower up to her nose for the sensory experience.\u00a0 As an adult we often over look the simplest of things a garden can offer our growing children.<\/p>\n

At this moment in time. the early summer garden can be a host for interactive kids gardening activities using play to learn and grow.\u00a0 Although the late spring bulbs of the allium are spent and their colors browned by the summer sun, a stake and some funky colored spray paint makes the flower heads an eye catching focal for kids to see in the garden.\u00a0 Yesterday I painted the allium at the Children’s Museum of Saratoga Springs.\u00a0 I was immediately rewarded with the delighted response of children seeing this neon colored spike as they ascended the steps of the museum. \"\"<\/p>\n

Blending\u00a0 edibles into your garden beds can teach a child the oh so lost art<\/em> of patience!\u00a0 The lightening speed and immediate gratification offered by today’s technology based learning has nearly eliminated the need to be still and wait.\u00a0\u00a0 (you may remember that early learned virtuous skill before the advent of handing kids touch screen devices to bide their time)\u00a0 Kids can observe the stages of the developing veggies from flower to fruit and ripening in days\/weeks not gigahertz (GHz).\u00a0 Watching that blueberry turn from green to a ripe bluish purple before plucking it from the bush and popping it in their mouth is a childhood memory not to be missed.\u00a0 Now that is a real lesson in developing patience and observation skills.\u00a0 In my gardens we have transitioned from watching and waiting amid the strawberry beds to the blueberry and raspberry bushes.\u00a0 This week my granddaughter will pick blueberries for one of her favorite Poppi-made breakfasts, blueberry pancakes.<\/p>\n

\"\" Ever play “I Spy” with your child?\u00a0 As my garden choreographs it’s summer dance, the multitude of colors, shapes, sizes, numbers and visiting beneficial wildlife provide hours of playful kids gardening “I Spy” games.\u00a0 The striking yellow of the re-blooming daylily pops out amid the greens of surrounding shrubs and ground covers.\u00a0 My Veronica looks like a child’s colored pencil.\u00a0 My beloved Annabelle hydrangea offers white, round shaped blossoms that look like playful balls bouncing around in my garden.\u00a0 Butterflies, bees, moths and hummingbirds attracted to my perennials give a child visuals to localize and scan, the eye skills needed to begin reading and writing.\u00a0 Digging and pulling up weeds, cutting blooms to arrange indoors and carrying their flower bounty give children the precursor bilateral hand skills for using classroom tools.\u00a0 Make plant selections kids will love to touch and smell.\u00a0 Herbs like lavender and hardy creeping thyme offer scents for further exploration.\u00a0 These positive\u00a0 early sensory experiences provide kids with the\u00a0 sensory motor precursors for movement and to adjust socially.<\/p>\n

So this summer, put some “technology free” learning to work for your child. \u00a0 Get out in the garden for some terrific kids gardening lessons.\u00a0 Don’t have a garden of your own to enjoy with your child?\u00a0 Locally you can enjoy the first year experience of gardens at the Children’s Museum of Saratoga Springs.\u00a0 The staff there is developing seasonal activities for kids to appreciate and learn from the urban garden spaces there.\u00a0 Check out their hours and activities:http:\/\/cmssny.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you have a home garden that offers fun learning activities for kids?\u00a0 How do you make it fun for your kids and grandchildren?\u00a0 Share it with the Garden Goddess!\u00a0 Sharing from from one another can help our kids learn and grow alongside our gardens!\u00a0 As always keeping garden practices sensible and sustainable \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 Be sure to visit my website for upcoming “kid-friendly” garden activities throughout the year.http:\/\/gardengoddesssenseandsustainability.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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Late last month we witnessed the closing of Toys R Us, the retail giant where I spent many hours\u00a0 purchasing the latest toys during my girls’ childhood years.\u00a0 That little jingle: “I want to be a toys r us kid” still resonates in my memory banks.\u00a0 And although I am saddened by the\u00a0 demise of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":28135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\r\nKids Gardening Lessons - Garden Goddess Sense and Sustainability: A Saratoga Garden Blog<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/garden-goddess\/2018\/07\/kids-gardening-lessons\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kids Gardening Lessons - Garden Goddess Sense and Sustainability: A Saratoga Garden Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Late last month we witnessed the closing of Toys R Us, the retail giant where I spent many hours\u00a0 purchasing the latest toys during my girls’ childhood years.\u00a0 That little jingle: “I want to be a toys r us kid” still resonates in my memory banks.\u00a0 And although I am saddened by the\u00a0 demise of […]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/garden-goddess\/2018\/07\/kids-gardening-lessons\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Garden Goddess Sense and Sustainability: A Saratoga Garden Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Chips-Landscaping-251524321106\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-07T13:55:11+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/garden-goddess\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/33\/2018\/07\/daylily-veronica-1024x576.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sue Ann DuBois\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sue Ann DuBois\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/garden-goddess\/2018\/07\/kids-gardening-lessons\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/garden-goddess\/2018\/07\/kids-gardening-lessons\/\",\"name\":\"Kids Gardening Lessons - 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