Spring Gardening with Kids

After a cold winter, spring has finally sprung in Australia! It's a great time of the year to get your kids down and dirty in the Earth's soil. If your kids' nanny needs ideas about how to keep the kids entertained, gardening is the perfect activity on a warm, sunny day. Gardening teaches children where their food comes from and shows them it's possible to grow fruit and vegetables in their very own garden.

Tips for gardening with children

1. Keep it simple

If your kids are new to gardening, start simple. Plant flowers, fruit or vegetables that are easy to grow and maintain, such as lettuce, carrots, strawberries, blueberries, sunflowers and marigolds. But also check that it's the right season for your plant of choice. While lettuce can grow year-round, sunflower seeds are best planted from early spring to midsummer.

2. Make them involved

Give the kids a say in what they'd like to grow. Your nanny could create a list with them filled with the gardening essentials, such as seeds, soil and kid-friendly tools. Buying everything on the list is another way of involving the kids in every part of the process. Once these items are ready to use, encourage your kids to wear gloves and suitable clothing because they're about to get dirty! They'll also need hats, sunscreen and gumboots.

3. Start small

Depending on the size of your garden, you could be looking at a lot of work, and kids get bored quickly. So choose somewhere small, like a garden bed or a few large pots. Remember to explain each gardening step, but also allow them to play in the dirt by making mud pies.

Gardening is a fun activity that can be done throughout spring. Keep children interested by making a scarecrow together or setting up a worm farm, and remind your kids to regularly weed and water the garden. By the end of the season, they should have a number of fruit and vegetables to add to their healthy cooking adventures.