A Garden of Their Own

We may have to pare back on our gardening plans for this year, but I still wanted my boys to be part of the action with a garden of their own. I have grand visions of what this could be someday. Most of these are inspired by the adorable book, "Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children"

However, in effort to not forsake good for perfect (which the Happiness Project had a great post on this week), I am giving them the front of an already existing (and pitifully empty) flower bed. I wanted to include them in the planning process as well. For us, this isn't just about having veggies and pretty flowers, but also raising children who understand the process of gardening and its importance in our householding.

So I drew them out a rough picture of the garden bed (on the back of an old school paper). Once I had made my selection and had my order ready from my seed catalogs, I turned the flower pages over to them, along with some scissors and glue, and let them create their masterpiece.

This project was so good for us in so many ways. They got to be involved in our family gardening process, work with each other, and use their fine motor skills and attention spans. Tucker even told me what a good time he had.

How are you including your kids in the spring activities this year?

P.S. Sorry for the awful lighting. As my children wake up around 5 am, most of our activities are done in the dark.