Eight Things About Gardening With Your Kids, Part 2
Limited Choice - Hmmm…What To Do
I am writing a series of posts about eight principles of education integrated into the design and activities of Hershey Children’s Garden and how you can use these principles with your little green thumbs.
Principle number two: let those kids run wild. Let them do absolutely whatever they want to do. The sky is the limit! Or should it be? Most of us do not fare well creatively without some parameters and some sense of definition. "Don’t give all the possibilities, just give me the best ones," I can hear myself saying. Anyone who has walked onto a university campus without a declared major knows the paralyzing feeling of not knowing where to start.
The Children’s Garden is designed to give visitors limited free choice. There is a fence surrounding the entire Garden with only one way in and one way out. There is also one wide path that circumnavigates the entire space. In between, however, there are many small paths connecting different parts of the big loop. Children can take whatever avenue they want. They are free to explore within the given parameters.
The same idea can be applied to gardening activities, too. Most kids have no idea what a gardener does, so give them some options:
"Want to plant a many-colored vegetable garden?"
"Want to plant some seeds?"
"Today, you can choose to do the weeding or the composting."
"Where do plants get their energy?" (There is a reason why kids and adults both like multiple choices!)
Until next time, what gardening options have you given your kids today? You do not have to wait until spring to start!!
You could give your kids the options of:
1. Windowsill gardens
2. Painting flower pots for the spring
3. Having them research and plan a flower or vegetable bed, including buying the seed
4. Getting down on the worm farm
5. Reading a good gardening book (Shameless plug: The Eleanor Squire Library at Cleveland Botanical Garden has excellent storybook options!)
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