Children enjoy gardening. But what to do if you don't have a garden or the weather doesn't allow going outside? We give valuable tips.
Even if you don't have a garden at your disposal on a regular basis, you don't have to despair. There are great ways to get children interested in gardening - and you can do it easily in the apartment on the windowsill & Co. We have compiled the best methods for you below.
Regrowing for kids
If you don't have a garden or balcony, you can still start fascinating cultivation projects. Do you already know the new trend from the USA, which is called "regrowing"? It is a good example of how sustainability can always be taken a step further. Entire new plants can grow from lettuce stalks, dried ginger remains and turnip cuttings - and this often requires nothing more than a little soil, light, water and patience. Experiencing this small natural wonder is guaranteed to be fun, and not just for children. Incidentally, allowing vegetables to grow back impressively illustrates how we can live in a way that conserves resources, avoid waste and save costs.
The basic principle of regrowing is based on the vegetative regenerative ability of a specific tissue part of the respective plant. This part is first placed in a water bath until tender growth and root formation can be seen. Now the little plant gets a pot with fresh soil and if the conditions are right, it can be harvested after a few weeks. The best results are achieved with romaine lettuce, spring onions and leeks, but with a little practice and patience you can also grow exotic plants such as pineapple or avocado again. You can find detailed instructions on regrowing in the book "Regrow your Veggies" by our Plantura co-founders Melissa Raupach and Felix Lill.
Favorite plants on the windowsill for children
In addition to the fascinating regrowing plants, various herbs, seedlings and ornamental plants can also be grownMake little ones happy.
- Herbs for children: They are part of the basic equipment of all young gardeners. The great advantage of potting the standard herbs chives, parsley and basil is that you can easily bring them from the garden or balcony into the warm house when winter comes.
- Seedlings: Most of us are familiar with the cress head, in which cress seeds germinate from old pantyhose filled with substrate in the form of a head and it looks as if the cress man has “hair " grow. But not only cress can be grown very quickly and spontaneously (and therefore child-friendly) with a little help from adults, many other seeds are also suitable for germination. Beetroot, radish or alfalfa sprouts are a nutritious and tasty addition to the diet. When cultivating the seedlings, you should pay great attention to sufficient ventilation to give mold no chance.
- Curious things for children: Like many adults, children are also fascinated by the exotic and the unusual. The brood leaf (Bryophyllum sp.) combines both: the easy-care thick-leafed plant has babies and is a medicinal plant for everything. Even "freckles" can be found as an indication. The African plant reproduces vegetatively via many small "kindles" that grow on the leaf edges, then fall off and colonize the surrounding pot landscape. A plant that does the regrowing all by itself, so to speak. Goethe supposedly loved this plant like his Teltower Rübchen. A permeable substrate, lots of sun, little water and a slightly cooler hibernation - that's all you should consider when caring for the brood leaf. This makes the exotic an ideal houseplant for children.
Children continue to process the harvest
It fills children with joy and pride to process their own harvest into jam, flower or herb s alt at home. You can see directly that regular and ongoing care of the plants pays off. Being able to eat your own harvest is certainly a motivator for the coming season. But even if you don't have your own garden: some products can be easily made together with the little ones from wild collections, such as the vitamin-rich and tasty "Dirndlhonig" (Cornelian cherry, Cornus mas), the delicately scented elderflower syrup(Sambucus nigra) or the intense green wild garlic s alt (Allium ursinum). The self-processed products can be nicely packaged and then given away as small gifts by the little ones. Below is a favorite recipe that's also easy.
Wild garlic s alt: When the tender wild garlic leaves push through the dry layer of leaves in March, it is time to take the little ones for a walk in the forest and start collecting. The rich green color can be impressively preserved for a few months if the fresh herb is ground into a fine powder with the s alt. Before bottling, let the s alt dry for a few days, turning it over several times. It is loved by young and old, especially on sandwiches. Alternatively, herbs from the window sill and wild herbs such as chickweed, ground nettle, yarrow, stinging nettle, deadnettle, horsetail and so on can be added to the mixture.
Teaching children an understanding of old garden customs
Children are open to anything magical. Let them know that the garden and plant world is magical and full of wonder by sharing ancient customs and stories about the garden. Children love stories - and there are so many beautiful classics that entwine around mysterious gardens and can bring the garden into the house even on a cold winter's day. For example, tell the story "Little Ida's Flowers," in which the main character secretly watches the flowers sway as they dance at night. Or read Oscar Wilde's fairy tale The Selfish Giant, in which a giant learns that eternal winter will not leave his garden until he welcomes the banished children back into it.
Teach your offspring about old garden customs. Knowing this can inspire your own creative interpretations. In Sweden, for example, there is the beautiful custom of the dream bouquet: At the summer solstice, you have to climb over nine pasture fences to pick nine different flowers. This bouquet under the pillow lets the picker dream of her future husband that night. Or do you know the many games that you can play with just the inflorescences of the plantain (Plantago sp.)? Or do you know that the lindworm lives under the linden tree (Tilia sp.)?
Another idea is tolook up the magic effects of old witch's herbs and home remedies together. The real houseleek, for example, was used to plant turf roofs to protect against lightning and also as a good luck charm for the yard.
Crafts and painting with plants
You can paint directly on paper with flowers and parts of plants. Such a "Florell" sometimes produces surprising effects, for example, a red color can be achieved on the paper with the yellow flowers of St. John's wort (Hypericum sp.). You don't need your own garden for this: Many coloring wild plants - such as goldenrod (Solidago sp. - yellow) or the berries of the elder bush (Sambucus nigra - dark violet) can be collected during walks in the (city) nature. Other plants include common trefoil (Lotus corniculatus - yellow), bluebells (Campanula sp. - blue) or plain grass (green). Many common and easy-to-grow garden plants are also good for dying eggs or textiles. Marigold (Tagetes - orange) and hibiscus (Hibiscus syriacus - purple) are examples.
Creative garden design with children
If a garden or balcony is available but spring is still a long way off, craft projects to beautify the "kindergarten" can shorten the waiting time:
Smooth stones can be painted and varnished to later serve as a bed border. The little ones can shape name tags out of clay, make colorful pinwheels and garlands, wrap branches with colorful scraps of wool, and make tea light holders from old jam jars. For the older ones among the young gardeners, building a seat from old Euro pallets might be interesting. Such simple tools build identity and help maintain interest in the garden year after year.
Tip: Entertaining design can easily be combined with animal welfare and raises children's awareness of ecological connections. The little ones are enthusiastic about building an insect hotel, piling up piles of leaves to support hedgehogs in autumn (be sure to layer larger branches under the leaves), or building feeders and nesting boxes for birds.
The best plantsWe have put together a special article for you on gardening with children.
You can find more great tips for urban gardening with children here.