People of all ages can enjoy gardening, but kids in particular will have lots of fun and gain special benefits, such as connecting with nature and each other. Under an adult’s supervision and guidance, they become curious and learn about respecting all living beings around them. Before you settle down to your winter’s nap, take advantage of the year-end sale of plants, select a few pieces, and bring them home. Teaching kids about plants is a fantastic way to teach them about science, nature, and even themselves. Textbooks aren’t the best solution, so involve your loved ones in experiential education opportunities, cultivating their passion for plants.
Here are some activities to help you save time on planning.
Paint A Vast Range of Plants in Watercolor
Beyond their visual appearance, drawings help children identify and understand plants in a timeless manner. Encourage your kids to draw the plants they come across so they can understand the difference between what they see and what they know. Use watercolor paper so the colors appear their brightest. Your loved ones should concentrate on painting and not mixing the right quantity of water with paint. Plus, it will let their creativity run wild, while learning new facts about nature. To keep your children entertained for longer, you could try painting plant pots, turning plain containers into colorful accents for the home.
Painting can be messy, so the thought of pulling out all the supplies and letting the kids have fun isn’t particularly appealing. However, you have to keep everyone happy and occupied. If you’re concerned about the floor, grab a beach towel or a plastic shower liner to prevent paint from getting on the surface. There’s no rush to become a Picasso, so start small and paint more and more with time. Painting a twig or a leaf will give your children an intro to the concept of cause and effect. Causality allows them to make inferences and reason about things that happen around them.
Explore The Great Outdoors
Nature has played a key role in the development of humankind, from the air we breathe to the food we eat, but not enough people have felt the joys of experiencing nature for its own sake. Strolling around in the park is a great activity to do – it’s inexpensive yet allows you to take in the sights and sounds of nature. If you move around too quickly, you risk missing out on important details, so it’s best to take your time. Think about creating a journal where your kids write their observations and note how they feel when spending time outdoors.
Plant Flower Bulbs for Later Blooms
If you think that your bulb-planting days are over, think again. It’s possible to plant bulbs as late as January for a spring display, provided you dig a hole deep enough to plant. The best time to plant bulbs is in the fall, but in case you missed this window, you can still plant flower bulbs as late as December. The contact with the natural world allows your offspring to develop their imagination, motor skills, and their self-confidence. You and your loved ones should explore Miffy’s green space and appreciate and understand nature on a much deeper level. If you’d like your kids to grow up loving gardening and learning how to grow plants, it’s never too early to get started.
From an emotional point of view, youngsters learn how to be responsible and patient while caring for seedlings as they grow into plants. What is more, gardening together helps them learn about social responsibility. You’ll raise kind, compassionate, and well-behaved children. As mentioned earlier, your children can learn more about plants and flowers in Miffy’s green space. Nature is all around us, and to better grasp its importance, it’s important for kids to learn about plants and how they function. Miffy helps kids learn more about and explore the world in a fun and engaging way.
Create Plant-Related Arts and Crafts
Youngsters love arts and crafts, and it’s important for them to practice it both at school and at home. Using plant materials, you can create projects to help your kids understand the usefulness and beauty plants possess, helping them learn about germination, condensation, and more. For example, you can create a bird feeder. There’s a huge variety of plants to choose from, including some fairly new varieties that have a beautiful color. All of them produce seeds your feathered friends will enjoy. Think about extending this activity with a bird book, a must-have for any family.
Another thing you can try is conducting a seed temperature experiment. As a rule, the number of germinated seeds increases as the temperature rises and decreases as the temperature exceeds the limit. This activity won’t disappoint, and you can do it at home. The next time you need a boredom-busting indoor activity on a rainy day, you know what to do. Last but not least, you can grow seeds in a jar, therefore avoiding the chemicals used in store-bought products. There are many different sprouts you can grow, such as vegetables, nuts, and other seeds.
Discover Why Seeds Have Coats
The outer shell of the seed, called a seed coat, protects the miniature plant. The coat can be thin and soft, as in tomatoes or marigolds, or thick and hard, as in coconut seeds. It goes without saying that, without the coat, the miniature plant wouldn’t be able to survive; the coat protects it against threats like insects. Here’s an experiment to try. Soak a couple of seeds in water and peel them off before introducing them into a test tube – carbon dioxide can diffuse off from the seeds. If the coats remain intact, the diffusion of carbon dioxide becomes challenging.
Conclusion
All in all, getting children involved in tending plants is a powerful teaching tool, promoting important life skills like kindness, responsibility, and composure, to name a few. From that moment, they’ll crave to learn more.
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