How Can Gardening Can Help Our Children Grow?
Children love to get involved, so why not let them dig in the dirt and watch things grow! Gardening offers so much to all of us – physically, intellectually, and emotionally. By introducing our children to the benefits of gardening from an early age will help them to learn new skills and develop all while enjoying every step of the process.
PHYSICALLY
1. Improves fine motor & locomotor skills – As children involve themselves in sowing seeds, thinning plants, weeding, pruning and harvesting it is helping them to develop their fine motor skills.
2. Sensory stimulation – Gardening involves all five senses:
- touch – the temperatures and textures around them (wet dirt, soft soil, fuzzy leaves, chunky mulch, warm sun)
- smell – the different scents around them (fresh dirt, fragrant flowers)
- sight – the multitude of colours (blue sky, green foliage, colourful flowers)
- hear – the sound of nature all around them (water splashing, birds chirping, leaves rustling, wind blowing)
- taste – the fruits of their labour (edible gardens are very rewarding)
3. It helps with body management skills – Body management skills are the skills that involve balancing the body in motion and in stillness. These skills include; balancing, climbing, bending. stretching and stopping. Gardening helps with these skills as it often involves moving soil, bending over to weed, squatting to plant and carrying tools such as watering cans, rakes, trowels etc.
4. Develops object control skills – By using these gardening tools such as trowels, hoes, rakes and watering cans it will help them with object control skills in other areas of their life. Object control skills, are movement skills that require an ability to handle an object or piece of equipment with control. These include; throwing, catching, kicking and bouncing.
5. Fresh air and exercise – Gardening gets children outside into the fresh air, gets them moving, and helps them get a good dose of Vitamin D.
6. It teaches kids about nutrition and encourages them to make healthy choices – Children that help with the gardening are more open to trying new fruits or vegetables, especially when they have worked hard to help it to grow. By growing their own fruits, vegetables and herbs it exposes them to nutritious choices that can help to develop life-long habits.
7. Strengthens their immunity and overall health – Digging in the dirt can expose children to everyday germs/microbes, which in turn can help them build a strong, healthy immune system.
INTELLECTUALLY
8. Scientific observations and queries – Children are more inclined to ask questions based on what they observe such as; why something is growing well or not well? What is the importance of sunlight and water? etc.
9. Organisation Skills – Being involved in the planning and organisation of the garden e.g. when do specific plants need to planted and harvested? This can help children feel more invested in their garden and develop their organisational skills for the future.
10. Maths – Children will use mathematics in gardening without even realizing it! Gardening involves counting seeds, measuring and calculating plant spacing, measuring how much the plants grow, etc.
11. New vocabulary – Gardening exposes children to new words that they may not otherwise use in their daily life: soil, compost, till, sow, aerate, germinate, etc. They will also learn the names of plants they are working with.
12. Plant Knowledge – Their time in the garden will help them to learn and recognise different plants based on their size, leaf shape, flowers, fruit.
13. Responsibility – Plants need consistent care, therefore by being involved in gardening children learn what it means to be responsible for something to help ensure it healthy and grows.
14. Patience. – In this day and age many things in life give us instant gratification. Gardening will help children practice patience as they wait for the seeds to sprout, the plants to grow, the flowers to bloom, the fruits and vegetables to ripen.
15. Happy and relaxed- Studies have shown that when children have direct contact with dirt and mud, it can help improve their mood and reduce anxiety.
Contact Us:
At Blue Iris Landscapes we are passionate about cultivating a deep interest in the natural world as well as open up new avenues for our children’s futures. This is very much in line with our purpose of: “Making a positive difference through the improvement of our surrounding landscape.” For more information contact us today on 01782 396 168.
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