Garden Related Activities when Kids are out of School

If your kids like to garden they might like some of the following activities that they can do at home.

Planting: 

1) Kids might like to plant some cool season veggies in pots or in the ground. Remember that everything takes longer to grow now that it's not so warm outside. For that reason, I plant seedlings as well as seeds so I'll have vegetables to eat sooner.  I recommend asking the kids what they'd like to plant-usually it'll be their favorite vegetables. Check the back of the seed packets to see how long until germination. That might also be a factor in what you choose to plant!

2) You or they might want to plant some bulbs. At Marquez we're planting some red tulips behind yellow pansies. They'll look good together.  I also like planting paper whites-they are easy to grow and smell great!

3) Kids can research what they'd like to plant in a spring garden and then order seed catalogs.

4) If they want to start seeds indoors using grow lights like we have at Marquez, check out the grow light gardens from Gardeners Supply.
5) Plant some wildflower seeds. California poppy seeds can be found at most nurseries. (Kids learn about poppies in our study of plants used by indigenous peoples). Theodore Payne has a large variety and you can check on-line and have seeds sent to you. 

Wind chimes:

1) Wind chimes can be made out of various materials. Some Marquez students are going to make some out of terracota pots for our sensory garden. I'm going to make some out of xylophone pieces. There are lots of good ideas on Pinterest.

Garden gifts for others:

1) Kids can paint a terracota pot with acrylic paint and then plant seeds or seedlings in it as a gift.  They could give someone a small herb garden or salad garden. They can also do this with paperwhite bulbs.

Other garden related activities:

1) Kids can help make raised beds. Gardeners.com has some raised beds that are easy to put together. 2) Make a worm bin or purchase one and start composting with worms. The worms do best at temps from mid 50 to mid-70s so consider keeping the bin in the garage. Worm bins can be made out of large Rubbermaid containers. Just put holes in the top so the worms can breathe and some in bottom for drainage. Put another bin underneath to catch moisture. Directions for worm composting: https://www.lacitysan.org/cs/groups/public/documents/document/y250/mda4/~edisp/cnt008925.pdf

Reading:

1) Kids might like to read books about gardening either factual or fiction. Kids Can Compost is an introductory book about composting, Planting a Rainbow, Compost Stew, Growing Vegetable Soup are also good books for young gardeners.

2) Garden project books: Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots has fun projects as does The Book of Gardening Projects for Kids.

Gardening with Ms. Palo's class

Comments written by one of the students:
"When I compost I take all of the dead weeds, veggies, fungus, twigs and leaves throw that into my dark brown compost bin. I think composting can really help our land and environment stay clean and safe. That's why think composting can totally help our community, environment and whole WORLD stay nice and clean."

In class we discussed what goes into the compost bin, what decomposing means and the names of some of the decomposers. They then looked at the worm bin to identify the decomposers. The red wriggler worms were most plentiful.

In the butterfly garden they spotted a green caterpillar seen below on a nasturtium flower. They also planted tomato and lettuce seeds in a seedling tray. Finally, they snacked on broccoli with ranch dressing.

A green caterpillar is on a nasturtium in the butterfly garden.

The kids are investigating red wriggler worms from the worm bin.

Stories about the garden

"I learned a lot of stuff in the edible garden. I learned that broccoli must be picked in a certain time or else it will sprout flowers, but you can still eat the flowers. The soil must be nutritious or else the plant will not grow. Compost helps plants grow. Some flowers are edible and some are not." Kai

"In the Marquez edible garden I learned a lot of stuff. I learned how to transplant seedlings into the flower beds." Toby

"This year we learned about how to take care of an edible garden. We learned about many things like the following: broccoli, carrots, radish, tomatoes, marigolds and borage. My favorite things are the fuzzy caterpillars and looking for grubs." Elula

"I learned a lot about our Marquez edible garden. I learned a lot about composting. I compost with worms. You put greens and browns into a bin." Chiara

"When I go to the edible garden, I learned a lot about planting vegetables. I learned a lot about flowers and worms. I also learned that the soil has nutrients that help the flowers grow. I learned how compost helps the earth. I learned about different flowers. My favorite activity down at the garden is tasting the vegetables." Samantha

"This is what I learned at the Marquez edible garden. We made a compost bin. Our compost bin had worms in it. We also planted seeds. It was fun. We dug for grubs. It was fun. They had 10 legs. My favorite thing at the garden was digging for grubs. We also ate broccoli. We wasted the broccoli first." Calvin