Play in the Dirt for National Garden Month

April is National Garden Month. What a perfect reason to get outside and get your hands dirty with the kids. Gardening and growing healthy food with your children is a great opportunity for enrichment in so many areas. It offers physical activity, helps improve motor skills and problem solving skills, and teaches children how to nurture and care for something. It gives them the opportunity to be proud of something they accomplish, and it introduces them to a selection of healthy foods, which they are more likely to eat because they helped grow it.

Try a themed garden, like a pizza garden, and grow all the veggies you might need to top your favorite pizza. Or a pasta primavera garden - toss all of your garden goodies with fresh pasta and enjoy!

My family recently began a new garden. A few weeks ago, my husband and I took the kids to get some seeds and we chose carrots, peas and cherry tomatoes. We have a patio so we started the seeds in a Pellet Greenhouse Kit. It comes with 20 discs of soil to which you add your seeds. My husband and the kids took great care to mist the seeds to keep them moist, and soon they had 20 sprouts! The kids were so excited every day to see the changes that were taking place with the plants, and looked forward to caring for them.

Today, they transferred their plants to fresh potting soil in planter pots on our patio. The kids got to get a little messy in the soil and helped set up the stakes for the peas to grow on. Then they helped to put the plants in the soil. My 4-year-old son asks questions everyday about why the plants look a certain way or why they are changing. What started out as a small garden turned into an everyday activity that provides an ongoing opportunity to teach that involves everyone in the family.

Fun ideas: 101 Ways to Celebrate National Garden Month

For more great ideas about gardening with kids: Kidsgardening.org

For tons of garden Information: National Gardening Association




Enjoying the tomatoes from the garden a bit early!

Our newly planted peas.