Herb Gardening With Children (Family Herbal Summer Series: Part 2)
Welcome back to the Family Herbal Summer Series at the Herbal Academy! I am so happy you and your family are here to join us for our second week of camp. This week our Family Herbal Summer Series is all about getting outside and herb gardening with children.
Learn about herbs that are useful, family-friendly, and easy to grow for free! You’ll also find lots of neat ideas for growing your herbs in fun and sometimes silly ways that are perfect for gardening with children. Plus, this week there are also lots of garden crafts for kids and child-friendly ideas for encouraging beneficial insects to make their home in your garden.
Did you miss last week’s adventure? Join us here to follow along and learn about basic botany for herbalists!
Oh, and one more thing… don’t forget to share your family’s herbal memories with us on Instagram by using hashtag #HAFamilyHerbalSummerSeries. We love seeing what you’re up to!
Herb Gardening with Children
Do you have a garden? Perhaps you just have a small plot of land or even a little pot with plants growing inside. Perhaps you have a large garden complete with trees and bushes! Or maybe you don’t have a garden at all, and that is OK! You can find everything you need here to Start Your Own Herb Garden or to inspire your kiddos to garden with you. There is also a little herb guide to help you pick out the newest members of your garden along with fun kid uses for each herb!
Once you have the foundation for your herb garden started, you may wish to know more about fun ways to garden with your kids. Adventures In The Herb Garden has all the information you need! In this post, you will find information on silly, kid-friendly ways to sprout seeds as well as herb harvesting and drying instructions. And if you want to learn about inviting beneficial insects into your garden, there are some handy ideas for you including instructions on making your own watering hole for pollinators.
Hobby Farms offers more wonderful guidance on gardening with kids including a mother’s accounting of her experience in Garden Design With Children. Also from Hobby Farms is Bedtime Bath Teas with a great little guide on bath time herbs that grow in each hardiness zone.
Seeds, Seeds, Seeds!
Speaking of sprouting seeds, what better way to help children learn about the cycles of life than to help them plant their own little baby seeds? Encourage your kiddo to watch their babies grow and tend to their care.
Beyond basic seed sprouting, there are some great ways to get crafty with seeds while creating efficient ways to plant seeds successfully. These projects are great for the whole family to work on together! Making your own seed tape or seed mats helps make planting easy when it comes time to put the seeds in the ground. It helps encourage proper spacing of the seeds and also stops small seeds from blowing away in the wind or being washed away by heavy rains. Older kids will enjoy plotting out where each seed will go and younger kids can have fun dabbing glue to hold the seeds in place. Learn how to Make Your Own Seed Tape with complete instructions from Learning and Yearning. And find instructions from Grow A Good Life for creating Homemade Seed Mats.
Another popular way to plant seeds is to make seed bombs. These are a blast to make, especially with kids, and fun for kids to throw around while planting. Seed bombs are also great gifts offering a nice way to share the gift of herbs with others.
Learn the basics of seed bomb making using recycled paper with Joybilee Farm. This recipe even includes some lovely aromatic herbs to make your seed bombs extra special! The folks over at Hobby Farms offer a really cool tutorial for making Naturally Dyed Seed Bombs with all the colors of the rainbow made from veggies, fruits, and herbs!
Want more resources for herb gardening with children? Maybe you would like to garden with a group of kids? Get Growing! School & Community Garden Resources from Morgan Botanicals is absolutely chock full of helpful resources to help inspire kids in the garden!
Garden Arts & Crafts
If you feel so inspired, get crafty with the plants growing in your yard. Planting a special child-friendly garden that invites imagination and play is a great way to get kids excited about gardening! Plus, it is loads of fun!
My favorite ways of herb gardening with children is to create and plant a fairy garden together. In the past, we have invited dragons, gnomes, kitties, puppies, and even dinosaurs to come and live in our gardens. Plant plenty of herbs in the garden too and your child will be learning about herbs while they play! Find complete instructions including herb recommendations for a fairy sized garden here in Garden of Whimsy, Making a Fairy Herb Garden. For more wee-fairy inspiration including wonderful folklore and whimsical ideas for decorating your new fairy garden visit Planhigion Gardens and enjoy a Faerie Gardening article written by Herbal Academy contributing writer, Jackie Johnson.
Kids love to nestle and hideaway. What better place to find a bit of refuge from the heat of summer than your very own Magical Living Fort? Covered in living edible veggies, fruits, and herbs this is a great family garden craft that provides entertainment and food all at the same time!
Though not really an art or a craft, making a worm farm is a great way to learn about these amazing helpers! Worms do so much behind the scene all hidden away in the dark soil. They only make their appearance on rainy days or if you happen to come across them while digging in the garden. Take an Adventure With Earthworms and enjoy learning about these wriggly little friends with Mama Rosemary.
Thank you for visiting the herb garden this week! I hope that you have plenty of happy ways to get outside and enjoy herb gardening with children this week. Please join me next time when we will venture into the wild and enjoy learning about wildcrafting.
A Note About Safety
Thank you for joining this week for the Family Herbal Summer Series! As you enjoy herb gardening with children and exploring herbs, please keep safety in mind! Help your kids be safe when using herbs and provide supervision when using herbs, which is especially important for very young children. Teach your kiddos that they should always check with you or another trusted adult before handling or ingesting plants. For more information on using herbs safely with children please visit Choosing Safe Herbs For Your Kids.
Week 2 Recap & Action Plan
- Decide on the type of herb garden you will plant with your kids.
- Choose your herb seeds. Perhaps from the plant family you studied last week?
- Decide how you will plant your seeds? Seed bombs, seed tape, seed mats?
- Decorate your herb garden!
- Share photos of your projects, herbs, herbarium, recipes, and more on Instagram using hashtag #HAFamilyHerbalSummerSeries!
What herbs are you growing in your garden this year? Share with us in the comment section below!
About Post Author
