Benefits of Gardening for Children

BENEFITS OF GARDENING FOR CHILDREN

It’s no shocker that kids love spending time outdoors, the fresh air works wonders for them and the outdoor activities keep them active. As for outdoor activities, gardening is hard to beat for promoting a well-rounded development in kids.

Whether they are simply planting seeds in a pot in their balcony, tending to the backyard garden or looking after a terrarium indoors, gardening offers so many fun and interesting opportunities for children, and teaches them invaluable lessons.

Here are a few benefits of gardening for children:

Sensory Development

Gardening engages all sorts of senses- they can feel the texture of soil, seeds, flower and petals. They get to smell all the amazing flower scents and see all the colourful petals.

It also helps develop hand to eye coordination and builds physical strength. As we already know, gardening is quite physical and requires the body to work hard- digging, carrying, lifting, sieving, watering etc.

As children practise gardening, they develop important motor skills that help them improve other skills as well, such as writing, cutting and typing.

Gardening encourages healthy eating. Have a picky eater who turns up their nose at the sight of a vegetable? It can sometimes be a real struggle to get children to eat healthy foods and enjoy them. Try growing one from a seed. It’s a well-known fact that if you engage children in growing their own vegetables, they gain a keen interest in eating them too. Growing vegetables not only teaches them the hard work that it takes to grow them, but they get a sense of achievement knowing they are eating food they have grown themselves.

Teaches Responsibility & Patience

Gardening is a great way to teach responsibility, but it is no overnight process! Growing any sort of plant or vegetable requires daily attention & care and Children naturally learn to be patient when waiting for their flowers and vegetables to grow.

They begin to remain engaged in the process of looking after their flowers, even when there are no clear results. This anticipation will make the moment their flower or vegetables sprout, even more exciting!

Gardening introduces kids to scientific concepts

What makes the leaves green? Why do plants need sunlight? How much water does the plant need? Kids seem to have a lot of curious questions about gardening. This in turn is a great opportunity to get them to explore science, while gardening. Once again proving that learning can be great fun!