Homebound Activities :Gardening

In light of Mother's day and getting flowers as presents is very common. Lately my daughter and I have been edging out around our foundation block to add flowers around the house. We've also enjoyed putting rocks around our already established gardening area. While she is 3 and her attention span for the gardening itself is low she gets the following from the experience. Gardening is the following:

• Teaching your child is learning a life skill
• A great sensory activity ( the feeling of dirt, textures, bugs, roots, plants, etc.)
• Increases her vocabulary ( the way things feel, look and sounds)
• Exposes your child to new insects, arachnids and annelids 
• Keeps them busy close to home
• Having a purpose and being helpful

As you can see above this can be an ongoing process. We've been working on our garden since the beginning of April. I know my daughter looks forward to feeding the grubs in our garden to the robins in our neighborhood. She also, likes to observe them. She watches me dig to find worms and plays with the earth worms. I share and stress the benefits of having the worms IN our garden and how good they are for our flowers and plants. She enjoys the feeling of caring for the things that are smaller than her which shows empathy. She also loves when I give her a chance to water the plants using her watering can. Every day is a new adventure and she is learning more every time.



An easy way to start a garden is to ask parents or neighbors who are in need of some plant splitting if you can split a plant for them. Lilies, irises, tulips, daffodils and hostas are great examples of plants that can EASILY be transplanted. Seeds are also affordable and a great projects for kids to watch things grow.We've been doing this very thing at the pre-school I work at and the kids are learning as well as staff! I had to look up how to split plants safely. Great learning experience for all!

Here is a fun experiment to try with your kids at home is one this webpage:

http://www.all-science-fair-projects.com/science_fair_projects/50/625/4611fe1a62e1961d454c65c351aeabdd.html

All of this rain we've been getting is ideal for transplanting new plants and rooting. So get your selves out there and plant some seeds and flowers :)