Sowing More than Seeds:
10 Benefits of Gardening with Kids
teered to mentor students in the garden
for eight years at the elementary school
where she served as a media specialist.
She sees the nutritional and health ben-
efits children gain from gardening.
“With the growing concerns about
obesity, diabetes, and even high blood
pressure in children, gardening gets
them physically active and outdoors.
And children will eat anything they
grow — even if it’s green.”
— by Janeen Lewis
M
ost parents want their
children to get outside
away from phones, TV,
and video games, and gardening is a
great way to achieve this goal. However,
recent research shows that there are sev-
eral other reasons to start a garden with
kids. The benefits range from making
kids smarter to making them healthier.
Here are 10 great reasons to get kids gar-
dening:
1) Students who garden score
higher on science tests.
Gardening is full of science. Chil-
dren learn about plant classification,
weather, soil, and plant pests and dis-
ease. They are introduced to botany
N o Yard ?
N o P roblem!
in a natural, hands-on way, and recent
research shows that students who had
gardening experiences as part of their
school curriculum did better on stan-
dardized science tests than students who
were not exposed to gardening in school.
2) If they grow it, they will eat it.
As an elementary teacher, I’ve
taught STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math) and have served
as a Junior Master Garden club leader.
In these roles I witnessed the “if they
grow it, they will eat it” phenomenon.
Students love to dig up what they have
grown, and then curiosity gets the better
of them — they want to taste it.
Master Gardener Beth Tovi volun-
3) Digging in the dirt can make kids
healthier.
Several studies show that children
who were raised on farms don’t have as
many respiratory allergies, asthma, or
autoimmune disorders as children who
were raised in urban areas because chil-
dren who live on farms are exposed to
more microbes and fungi in the dirt. Let-
ting children get outside and get in the
dirt may actually make them healthier
than keeping them tidy, clean, and inside.
4) Gardening strengthens
emotional and interpersonal skills.
Children who garden learn respon-
sibility, patience, perseverance and how
to deal with disappointment if the gar-
den doesn’t grow the way they expected.
How do they collaborate with other sib-
lings, friends, or schoolmates to get the
garden work done? These are character-
building skills that research shows chil-
dren reap in the garden.
I witnessed this one year in my
school’s garden when we had a drought.
Watering the plants and trying to keep
them healthy was an arduous task, and
the students and I learned about perse-
verance and teamwork.
When your backyard is a concrete patio or an apartment balcony, it’s hard to imagine
growing a bountiful garden. But it can be done in containers. Choose some eco-friendly
containers with drainage holes in the bottom, fill them with a potting mix and then choose
seeds or seedlings to plant. Another option is to grow an herb garden inside on a sunny
window ledge.
A great resource for starting a container garden is The Vegetable Gardener’s Container
Bible: How to Grow a Bounty of Food in Pots, Tubs, and Other Containers by Edward C.
Smith. This book teaches even beginning gardeners how to grow organic food in small
spaces. The book covers container and tool selection, caring for plants, and controlling pests
without chemicals.
With a little research and tender care, you can grow flowers and vegetables that flourish!
10 WNY Family June 2018