A garden provides many rewards for those who take the time and make the effort to cultivate one, but did you know it can be a great tool for helping your child develop as well? Read on to learn some great ways a garden can benefit the little ones in your life.

1. Creating an appreciation and respect for living things. The abundance of enthusiasm children have, along with their natural curiosity, can sometimes create disastrous results with delicate things. Gently planting seeds, touching buds that will blossom, observing butterflies and ladybugs, are all things that will help develop your child’s self-control and teach them to handle life-forms with TLC.

2. Learning about food production and sources. When we grow fruits and vegetables with children, they begin to understand where food comes from and how much work it takes to put it on the table. Within this process is a much greater lesson in life about supply, demand, waste and sustenance. Cultivating vegetables may also help a little one overcome their distaste for things like peas and broccoli!

3. Understanding our ecosystem. From photosynthesis to soil nutrients, survival of the fittest to pollination, a garden will demonstrate the various aspects of an ecosystem in living, breathing motion that will captivate your child. Learning about what bugs eat in a book is one thing, but seeing a praying mantis in action is spectacularly different in real life!

4. Early environmental education. When children grow up being aware of environmental needs, as opposed to waiting until they are older, they are more inclined to adopt the good habits our environment is in need of early. Recycling for composting is just one way gardening will open their eyes to smarter ways of living and give them a creative outlet for learning. Setting up a garden in a small space and reusing wire fencing for staking are other ways you can teach valuable environmental lessons through gardening. No doubt, your child will come up with a few ideas of his own!

5. Providing a sense of accomplishment. Even adults enjoy reaping the rewards of their efforts in a garden; imagine how a youngster will take pride at harvest time! From seed to fruit or flower, the gratification of nurturing a living thing to its natural fruition is unlike anything else and cannot be fully appreciated by reading a book or chalkboard explanation.

6. Becoming more responsible. Provide your child with their own set of gardening tools and a garden chart and watch how quickly they adapt to the responsibilities! Keeping things orderly, recording events such as growth, fertilizing schedules and so on will foster responsibility to duties in your child that will help in all other areas of life and development.

7. Learning about the weather. Preparing the garden for a sudden frost or drought will go a long way in teaching your child to respect the weather and take action against its forces. By protecting the harvest, they in turn understand the sometimes negative effects harsh weather can have on everything, including themselves.

Gardening excites the senses and engages us completely; start a garden with your little one this season and share the sheer joy of it, as well as providing a great learning experience!