Going Green with Kids

Author: Charlie Nardozzi

April is National Garden Month® and April 22nd is Earth Day, which makes this month a great time to jump into the garden with kids. Many garden activities are fun and help kids better appreciate ecological concepts and environmental responsibility. In fact, what you chose to do in the garden can make a real difference in your environmental impact, and whether your kids embrace the practical ways they can help preserve our world.

Here are some simple activities to do with kids this month to bring home the importance of caring for the environment. Adopt just one or two of these ideas and you can help to make every day Earth Day in your yard.

• Recycle and Reuse. Most kids know about recycling glass bottles and newspapers. However, show them how to reuse household materials in the yard and garden, and you can tune them into recycling on a larger scale. For example, eliminate watering waste by cutting off the bottom inch or so of half-gallon plastic jugs, burying the necks in soil next to shrubs and large annual plants, and filling the upended jugs with water. To preserve soil moisture and prevent weed growth, mulch your garden pathways with cardboard or layers of newspaper. Cover the cardboard or newspaper with grass clippings or old leaves to give the garden a natural look. Start a compost pile with food scraps from the kitchen and grass clippings, fallen leaves, and other garden debris. Help nest-making birds by placing clumps of animal hair or old twine on trees and shrubs in the yard.
• Grow Organically. Pledge to bypass chemical pesticides and instead go organic. Together, identify bugs in the garden and decide which are “good” and “bad.” Handpick and squish the bad guys (invite other kids over to help!). Install barriers, such as floating row covers, to prevent pests from attacking favorite garden plants. Using the garden as a metaphor for the larger natural world, talk about the ways that pollution and harmful chemicals can affect all creatures great and small.
• Collect Rain Water. Place barrels under roof down-spouts to collect rain water for use on garden and container plantings. Conduct an experiment by using collected rainwater on some plants and municipal water on others to see if the plants grow differently. Set up rain gauges and monitor how much water Mother Nature provides. Discuss the amount of water plants need compared to the amount of rainfall in your area. See if kids notice the effects of water stress on garden plants.
• Plant an Edible Tree. In celebration of Earth Day, plant an edible tree this year. Apple, pear, cherry, citrus, and nut trees not only sequester carbon and reduce global warming, but also provide us with food. Inform kids that if 1 million trees were planted annually, they would sequester about 25,000 tons of carbon a year — the equivalent of taking 5,000 cars off the road. While selecting your edible tree, explain that broad-leafed trees sequester more carbon than evergreens, and trees grown closer to the equator sequester more carbon than those in the far North.
• Plant a Row for the Hungry. During tough economic times more people rely on food shelves to get by. Help out by planting an extra row of vegetables in your garden for donation to a local food shelf. Invite kids to help at every stage: deciding what to grow, planting, weeding, harvesting, and volunteering at the food shelf to distribute the food they grew. This rich experience will give them a better sense of the value of food and introduce them to larger issues such as global hunger.
• Eat Locally. Become a locavore for a week. Eat only foods that were produced within a 100-mile radius of your home. Have kids help map the “local” area and read labels on boxes and bags of food to see if they match your criteria. Talk about the amount of energy it takes to transport foods from other parts of the world to your grocery store and how much energy you can save by eating locally.

Children learn best by example. When adults adopt 'green' gardening habits they can lead to lifestyle changes that transform a child’s view of the world. I’ve composted kitchen scraps since my daughter was a young child. Now it’s part of her way of life and she naturally asks about composting food scraps when visiting friends. When you teach young children ecologically sound habits, you instill a sense of environmental responsibility that follows them into adulthood.

For more activities to do with kids during National Garden Month, visit our National Garden Month Web site.