Forgetful Momma

Secular Homeschooling in Canada

gardening with kids

20+ Fast Growing Seeds for Kids to Grow

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We are ready for spring and for growing, and to start seeing green outside again. Basically we are ready to start gardening again. We looked forward to having a garden when we bought our house and look forward to eating straight out of our garden. We are growing everything from seeds again this year. Most of what we are growing have short germination periods which are great for growing with kids. Choosing fast growing seeds for kids keeps them interested in watching them instead of getting bored and forgetting about the seeds they planted.

Fast Growing Seeds for Kids to Grow

Fast Growing Seeds for Kids to Grow

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

We choose seeds based on what we want to eat. My kids will walk into our garden and eat tomato, cucumbers and peas straight from the vine. It is just a bonus that most are very fast growing. We also planted a few different flower seeds as we want to grow them for the bees and because we like how pretty they look planted around the yard.

We bought many of our seeds individually over the last few years, and instead of spending more money to buy plants already growing from a garden center at planting time we decided to grow our own again. My kids are older and a lot more interested in watching the growing process happen.

Starting Seeds Inside

We bought grow lights a few years ago when we bought seeds for the first time for our garden. Amazon has a lot of options to chose from depending on what you need. We bought seed pod trays to create our own little greenhouses to help our plants grow.

Fast Growing Seeds – Vegetables

Tomatoes

Pumpkins

Cucumbers

Beans

Carrots

Beets

Romaine (Lettuce)

Green Onions

Peas

Potatoes

Fast Growing Seeds – Flowers

Sunflowers

Nasturtium

Zinnia

Marigold

Calendula

Morning Glory

Fast Growing Seeds – Herbs

Herbs can be a little trickier for some to grow as they need a little water, everyday. Then again, they can be great for kids that like to water plants.

Basil

Thyme

Oregano

Parsley

Sage

Rosemary

Dill

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20+ Fast Growing Seeds for Kids to Grow

Benefits of Gardening with Kids

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Have you tried gardening with your kids? While my kids don’t love the hard work that comes with getting a garden planted, they sure enjoy the fruits, or vegetables, of the labor. Some of the biggest benefits of gardening with kids for us is that there aren’t many vegetables that they won’t eat and they are always willing to try something new now.

Benefits of Gardening with Kids

Benefits of Gardening with Kids

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

Watching a plant grow from the seed you planted is quite the experience. And if you can start some seeds in a clear container you can teach your kids all about root systems and sun light, all those science things.

Reading

Your children can be reading to find which vegetables are the best for your growing zone and what type variety fits best for your area. Then there is the reading about how to plant them: germination, planting and spacing, harvesting, etc. Let them do some research on the plants they want to grow.


Math

There are a lot of teachable math moments when gardening with kids: how deep to plant a seed, how far apart to plant seedlings, how tall plants get, and how to arrange them in a garden to provide for maximum growth.

Science

Gardening provides a fantastic introduction into the world of natural science. From planting a seed to watching seedlings grow and mature, flower formation, fruit formation, insect and plant life cycles, and the importance of sunlight and water; these are all the beginnings of botany, biology and chemistry!


Health

One of the many benefits of gardening with kids is that they begin to appreciate the hard work it takes to grow and harvest food. They learn patience, confidence, and that it can be great to get messy! If you don’t have space for a garden, then try container gardening with kids. You’ll get the same benefits but you need less space!

Do you do any gardening together as a family?

 

Benefits of Gardening with Kids

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Kids in the Kitchen – Kids Gardening

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We love watching our garden grow each summer, and we can’t wait to start snacking. Which is the whole reason we garden when we think about it. I love having our kids in the garden with me, gardening is teaching them more about life, about the science of how the food grows and why we want worms and bumblebees. They learn more from doing in the garden than a science book is going to tell them about the process.

Kids in the Kitchen - Gardening with your kids

Kids in the Kitchen – Gardening with your Kids

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

Remember this: Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn. – Benjamin Franklin

As much as kids like to snack, providing an (almost) all you can eat veggie buffet is the best way to get them having healthy snacks, and trying new fruits and veggies.

Making a salad from fresh garden vegetables is great way to show how tasty vegetables are, to practice cutting with knives, as well as the growing of food.

Introducing Growing Food

The first thing you can do, is to let your kids pick out something to grow themselves. Of course this is going to come after you have decided whether you are having your garden in the ground, raised beds, or even container gardening. The one thing my oldest always picks is cauliflower. She loves it.

Try to let them grow it themselves. From the planting to wetting, to the harvest. And the cooking which is what this series is all about. In the case of cauliflower, they need to cut it, and then decide what they are going to do with it. Are they cutting it up for veggies and dip, or to steam, or maybe for making a pizza crust?

We have grown a pizza garden in containers around our patio. It was amazing to walk out the front door to fresh herbs and tomatoes growing and waiting to be used in pizza. Growing herbs in something your children can grow throughout the year on a window sill too.

If you don’t have the space for a garden, or maybe you don’t want to or can’t grow vegetables for whatever reason, another great way to garden with your kids is to grow flowers. Growing flowers that bumblebees love to help them out, teach your kids about the importance of bumblebees and their place in growing food.

You can find more posts about gardening with your kids all over Forgetful Momma. It’s something we love to do!

Gardening Books for Gardening with Kids | Soil Testing Garden Science

How Your Garden Grows – Berenstain Bears Grow-It! | Garden Stakes Arts and Crafts

Fun Herbs for Kids to Grow | Growing a Bee Garden and Why Your Want One

Mini Greenhouse Gardening with Kids | Introducing Gardening in Our Homeschool

Gardening Books for Gardening with Kids

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Books, books, books everywhere! Seasonally when we start new topics the first thing I do is grab some books, this time, it’s gardening books for gardening with kids. Each book has their own thing to offer that make them great but these are our favorite books. My kids like to look through them for something different to try, while I am looking for some thing that is fun and educational for them.

I get a lot of books, because every book has different, amazing ideas. These are our 6 favorites, ones that I either own, or get again and again from the library.

Gardening Books for Gardening with Kids

Gardening Books for Gardening with Kids

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

The Classroom Garden

This is my favorite book! You know, on the topic of gardening with kids. I borrowed it from the library and had to go buy! It is full of fun ideas to do with your young children. It gives you some amazing ideas on incorporating play into gardening. Different things to plant seeds in including egg shells.

The Ultimate Guide to Gardening

I love scrappy kitchen gardens, you know those lovely vegetables that you can grow from the scraps of food. Such as green onion, lettuce, celery, and so many more! This book is full of unique and amazing garden ideas.

Gardening Lab for Kids

This one is fill of fun, 52 fun ideas in fact. One of those ideas is to make a rain gauge, another is to make a sprinkler. Fun right? I love the ideas in this book. I never would have thought to make a cold garden!

Gardening with Kids

Oh the ideas in this book! It actually makes me want to try growing flowers to crystallize them like in the book. Or making lavender bags.

Roots, Shoots, Buckets, & Boots

The one idea I got from this book that I am running with this summer is making/growing a pee tepee. I can’t wait for it to grow. This book is all about connecting children and gardening.

Gardening Projects for Kids

This book is broken up into categories. Two of which are playing based. Another is games, another is art based projects. And of course is food! You know snacking and making meals.

How do you get your kids interested in gardening?

 

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Soil Testing Garden Science

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When you are working in the garden, and hoping  and working hard for all your vegetables to grow, you also have to consider what else they might need, maybe your soil isn’t as great as it could be. Being curious and the experimenting type we did some soil testing in our backyard. Not just on our soil in the backyard, but did the whole thing in the windy yard.

My oldest has now been “experimenting” with dirt and water on her own while outside playing. I love how one thing can spark explorations of other kinds.

DIY Soil Testing Garden Science Experiment

Soil Testing Garden Science

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

For the first part of our testing we started by using a soil test that we bought from a store, you can most likely find them at any garden center, or on Amazon. They really don’t cost a lot, usually under $8 from what we have seen.

Soil Testing Garden Science Experiment

With the store bought test it really is as simple as following the instructions on the package. The first part was testing the pH of the soil, and was over and done within minutes. For the other three tests you had to mix water with your soil and then let it sit for 10 minutes.

DIY Soil Testing Garden Science Experiment

For the second part of our soil testing we did a DIY method that we basically just made up. We already had some pH testing strips (for our fish tank) and wondered if they would also work for our dirt.

DIY Soil Testing Garden Science Experiment

Letting little fingers do the pH strip test didn’t leave us too sure of how well it worked on the first strip. Letting it re-settle helped for the second strip, and we could see the color change, but it wasn’t a huge difference, and quite close to neutral as the store bought test seemed to be.

I hope that my in-laws will be visiting this summer and will perhaps bring us a little Nova Scotia soil so we can redo this with that dirt and compare. And yes, I am actually hoping that my in-laws visit this summer and not just for the hope of dirt, can you imagine?

Do you take science outside? There is a lot to be learned out there, starting with soil testing.

 

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