With the rain pelting at my window this morning, it’s hard to remember the balmy weather we had last weekend. The tropical 21 degrees we reached last Saturday made all of us here at what2buy4kids feel like Spring was truly on the way.
So ahead of the impending blooms that Spring will surely bring, I thought this week we’d take a trip into the garden – regardless of the weather – because this is such a great time to get kids noticing the world around them as it bursts into life for another year.
Nurture the Nature
Engaging with gardening activities is a great educational activity for children. Connecting the dots between the food on our plates and where it comes from helps build an early understanding of healthy, natural foods and the garden is also a great place to learn about the circle of life. Whether it’s plants, insects or small mammals, observing the natural world teaches lessons in growth, life and death.
And it’s also really good fun – here’s a place kids are allowed to get mucky, dig up dirt, go exploring and run amuck (literally) with absolute permission!
To make gardening fun and educational, here are some of my favourite gardening gifts for kids.
In the palm of their hands
Oversized trowels and gloves make gardening awkward. Tools that make kids feel clumsy don’t give them the best opportunity to grow in confidence. Mini trowels, buckets and gardening forks are a great gift for budding botanists.
The Little Pals growing kit comes in pink and blue, and includes a planter, fork, trowel, gloves, a packet of seeds and marker, plus a handy carry case too. It’s perfect for empower children to really get stuck in and have a go!
A lovely accompanying gift is the Little Pals watering can – kids love splashing the water around but from experience wellies are definitely needed!
Prehistoric gardens
Sow and Grow do a fab range of planting kits for kids. From prehistoric monster plants to bug eat-ing plants, butterfly gardens to sunflower growing competitions, the bright graphics on these box sets appeal to a wide range of kids and are suitable for children aged 4 and over. These sets are a great way to teach children how to plant seeds and take care of seedlings; they also encourage vital observation skills as children watch their plants grow into deadly bug-catching plants and beautiful butterfly-attracting flowers.
Grow your own grass
For an indoor project, how about growing your own grass! I’m particularly fond of these gifts be-cause they come with everything kids need to get going (just add water) and it’s a fab stocking filler or token gift for Easter – and a good alternative to chocolate!
Educational kids
For an introduction to gardening and healthy eating, the Mr Men gardening range is a fab place to begin. Complete with three packets of seeds, three coir pots, plant markers, a fun instructional booklet and poster to colour in, there are lots of themes to choose from in this range. There’s Mr Strong and his spinach, Mr Tickle and his runner beans, Little Miss Giggles and her wild flower garden and many more. I like the way the name of the character connects to the type of plant – it really helps to reinforce the nutritional lessons and conservational information.
Are your kids getting out into the garden yet? How will you help them get stuck in?
Article By Lisa Bradburn
Lisa is the managing director of what2buy4kids. Lisa’s wish is to make your job of finding a gift for the children in your life easier, or help you to take some of the time and frustration out of the search for that special gift for kids.
You can follow her on Twitter @what2buy4kids and Facebook
at facebook.com/What2Buy4Kids