Kids in the Garden
We’re raising kids who need to get out more. Although athletics build teamwork and improve coordination, nothing replaces the visceral, scientific knowledge gained from a garden. Ecological landscapes can easily draw children into them. Gardens are fun, interesting, and great at facilitating a child’s awareness of the body-brain connection.
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Playing around a garden generates strong bodies and colorful imaginations.
Why not send the kids out to play in a bean tipi or sunflower house? Why not train them to harvest dinner from the keyhole garden or breakfast from the chicken coop? From peas in spring and cherries in summer to pumpkins in fall and root crops all winter, there’s a world of delicious nutrition waiting for our kids—if we’d only get out there and plant it. “Race you to the compost pile!” says the father to his sons as he balances a small bucket of kitchen scraps in his right hand. “First one to find a worm wins!”