How to Keep Kids Learning This Summer

Your garden is more than just a pretty space to grow your favorite plants. It’s also a place for children and families to play, explore, learn, work, grow and be together. 

Do you have young children? Consider that gardening can aid in gross and fine motor skill development, balance, body management and object control. Planting tiny seeds, carrying tools, soil and water, walking while balancing heavy or awkward objects, running across the garden - all of these tasks help to develop a child’s physical being. 

Learning to pinch seeds between their fingers will in turn help a child hold a pencil. Finding balance while carrying a potted plant will also help them carry a book over to you to read at bedtime. All of our motor skills are interconnected.   

Gardens are filled with sensory experiences. It’s where we learn what sweet strawberries taste like when plucked from the stem, how smooth-textured leaves feel when rubbed between our fingertips, and what fresh basil smells like. Running barefoot through the sprinklers on a hot summer day is an experience that burrows deep into our memory. Close your eyes and it’s easy to recall that joyful feeling now even if it happened long ago. 

Gardening also has numerous mental health benefits. Multiple studies have confirmed that being in direct contact with the soil and microbes it contains while digging or planting helps to improve mood, decrease anxiety and have a better learning experience. Gardening together as a family promotes teamwork, sharpens communication skills, and fosters a sense of mindfulness and responsibility for our environment. 

Cognitive development is yet another area where gardening can help children grow. Intellectual skills like analyzing information, predicting outcomes, remembering skills, executing processes like planting, watering and weeding are all put to use while gardening. Planting seeds to a particular depth or width apart requires the use of a ruler, engaging math skills. Understanding air and soil temperature is another key learning experience. 

If you are ready to get out into the garden with your children over summer break, consider these nine lessons:

1. Let kids be kids! Allow them to explore, get dirty and have fun so they will want to do it again.
2. Plan out the garden together. Make a chart to keep track of tasks and check them off as they are completed.
3. Start small. Simple projects like planting flowers, painting rocks for garden markers and building birdhouses are all good projects for kids.
4. Give them their own space and tools when they are old enough to manage them. It’ll foster independence and a sense of ownership.
5. Grow high-interest, quick return plants like sunflowers, beans and zucchini.
6. Eat what you grow. Children are more likely to try the healthy fruits and vegetables they have grown themselves. It’s vital for them to learn where their food comes from.
7. Encourage exploration. Sometimes the best learning comes from questions that arise during unstructured play.
8. Foster an appreciation for pollinators and beneficial insects from a young age and teach children what everything’s role is in the environment.
9. Allow mistakes to happen. It’ll teach flexibility and resiliency. Making mistakes is how they will learn. If they fail, simply try again.