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Lessons In The Garden
Children can learn so much when they garden. Not just about the process of gardening, but about life cycles, water conservation, tending to chores, following directions, and so much more. Gardening is such a well-rounded teaching tool not only for science, but also in life lessons. You will be surprised at just how much gardening can teach a child.
Increased Eagerness to Learn
Children who garden are often much more ready and willing to learn. It gives them greater control over their own education and makes them more active seekers of knowledge. It also helps teach them problem solving skills.
Gardening can help children take the academic and turn it into real world experiences. It makes children much more inquisitive and with this great eagerness to learn, it makes it much easier to teach the basics within education.
Because of the ever-changing circumstances of gardening (such as weather changes and plant disease), children learn to think on their feet – making them more flexible and eager to learn problem solving skills.
Gardening Makes Children Stronger
Resiliency is important for children to have. Gardening can boost a child’s self-esteem, teach children the ability to cope with life’s ups and downs, and improve concentration.
Through many gardening setbacks (crop damage due to insects, failed crops, or weather), children become more resilient. They are forced to deal with these problems and move forward to achieve their ultimate goals.
Children can more easily concentrate when working with a garden, making it easier to teach them many different lessons. Learning the life cycle of plants, water conservation, and even the effects of the sun on plant life are easily taught to children through the garden and during gardening.
Gardening Teaches Responsibility
A lot of work goes into gardening. Watering and weeding are both important parts of keeping a garden alive. This will help children see the importance of doing these chores if they want a healthy growing garden. Beyond that, responsible eating choices can be made through gardening. Children are more willing to try vegetables that they have grown with their own two hands. They can discover a love for many foods they might never have tried before.
Since gardening often requires tools and chemicals, we might not normally want our children to have, we can take this time to teach them how to be careful with these items. What it is the chemicals do to help the plants, but how they can be harmful to us and the importance of washing our hands thoroughly after working. What organic solutions are available and how are they different to the chemicals used? Sharp tools are not toys and gardening is a great way to teach children how to responsibly use tools.
Once crops are grown children can learn about the business of selling crops. Teach them the responsibility of budgeting money and negotiating prices. These are early job skills learned right there in your own back yard.
Learning about the science behind a garden is only a very small part of what gardening can teach children. Life skills and a willingness to learn are things gardening can open up to a child’s life. So, take advantage of these teaching opportunities and grow a garden with your children.
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