Hands-On Learning
The best way for your child to learn will often involve hands-on approaches to education. Many of us are visual learners, meaning we need to see a concept in action in order to fully understand it. This is especially true for youngsters.
With that in mind, you can teach them valuable life-long skills in a fun way so they’ll be eager to learn. A great example of this is the establishment and cultivation of a garden for your preschooler. Whether you’re operating in a public education capacity or your child is learning skills via homeschool technique, this is a project that can be fun for everyone, and increase learning in an organic way, both literally and figuratively. Before getting started, take the following three questions into consideration:
- How hard is the plant to grow?
- Will little hands have trouble handling the seeds?
- Will the children like the plants you grow?
How Hard Is The Plant To Grow?
Preschoolers aren’t generally known for their patience. It takes time to refine a person’s attention span. Thanks to technological advances like social media, even adults seem to have a difficult time concentrating these days! Taking a preschooler’s developing mind into account, keep it simple.
Pick seeds that aren’t hard to plant, aren’t hard to grow and are fun to harvest.
Will Little Hands Have Trouble Handling The Seeds?
Motor skills are not yet refined among preschoolers. Granted, the young ones are getting better at controlling their bodies, and these are the years where tearing around the house at a hundred miles an hour seems to be the norm. While their gross motor skills are coming along, handling little seeds can be difficult and frustrating for young ones.
Ensure the plants you choose have seeds which can be easily managed by youngsters so they don’t become too irritated to learn.
Will The Children Like The Plants You Grow?
It’s important to plant seeds that will produce crops which children are naturally interested in eating. Granted, when a child has grown something themselves, they’ll be more apt to appreciate it even if it isn’t traditionally a delectable food, simply because they’ll be proud they’ve grown it from seed.
A fruit, for example, is more likely to be enjoyed than most vegetables. That said, sometimes fruits can be harder to grow. It will depend on your region, so you’ll want to do your homework on your gardening zone and the necessary plant care beforehand.
Using Available Resources To Successfully Inspire Preschoolers
You can read more about seeds appropriate and easy to grow for preschoolers at MySeedNeeds.com; a site with a catalog: “full of plants and vegetables suitable for your child’s garden. Be sure to include [your child] as you check out your options. Explain hardiness zones and growing seasons as you select seeds, so your kids know why a particular plant is (or isn’t) suitable for your climate.”
There is an even more pressing reason for you to involve children in an edible garden project: real nutrition. Synthetic foodstuffs, fertilizers, preservatives, GMOs, and untrustworthy meat are all truly considerable issues in today’s society.
Living off the grid has become increasingly popular across the U.S., not only for the reduction of living expenses but for the increase in health through self-sourced sustenance like what you get from home vegetable gardens. You can make it a year-round learning experience as well by making indoor edible gardens!
Giving your child or preschool class this understanding early can provide them a skill which is marketable and directly useful socially as well as personally. Proper diet and exercise are essential for the fullest flourishment of a person’s health, but both are difficult to acquire today. Thankfully, both are intrinsic to horticulture.