7 Amazing Ways Gardening Helps Your Kids

Growing a garden has become an incredibly popular way that parents, schools, and community programs use to engage kids!
Why? Here are 7 good reasons to get you started:

1) PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH!

Gardening with kids

Gardening gets kids physically active out in the sunshine and fresh air! Studies have shown that it calms the nervous system, improves self-esteem, promotes concentration, and encourages kids to eat healthy!

2) COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Group of kids gardening

Especially for young kids, the garden has limitless sensory stimuli and experiences, with different colors, textures, smells, sounds, and tastes. They also get to practice fine and gross motor skills like grasping, digging, picking, cutting, planting, and more!

3) SOCIAL SKILLS

Social Skills

Growing plants helps kids develop patience, listening skills, collaborative and communication styles and teaches autonomy, responsibility, and a sense of connection!

4) COMMUNITY BUILDING!

Kids preparing vegetables

Gardening lets kids grow, harvest, cook and share produce and meals with their family, friends and neighbors! If there is a community garden, it’s also a way for kids to feel connected to their larger social network, to learn from others in the process, and to feel a sense of responsibility, contribution and pride!

5) SUSTAINABILITY

We are all in this world together

Working with plants and soil helps kids become more connected to the earth and environment, which, in turn, means they will care more about it! Also, by growing and eating food from their own backyard or neighborhood, they are automatically creating less waste!

6) SOCIAL JUSTICE

Social justice

Food is an easy link to social justice. Kids naturally become curious about and can be encouraged to question where their food comes from, who grows it and under what conditions, and about other social issues related to food scarcity, food justice, and land.

7) DEEP LEARNING

Girl playing in the garden

This really incorporates every other point! Gardening is a REALLY integrative and embodied way for kids to learn. The garden is the perfect classroom, where science, math, art, language, and even art, history and geography can all come together in a tangible way! If that isn’t enough, gardening is shown to improve academic performance.