Spring Into The Season With These Tips For Gardening With Kids

There is nothing more rewarding than a once-bare patch of dirt brimming with zucchini and tomatoes, basil and dill, or flowers. That patch of dirt can be as small as a window box or pot, or a patch by your back door.

Kids love to garden—give them their own plot to tend and award prizes to the biggest tomatoes or pumpkins. There is nothing more fascinating to a child than an edible plant coming out of packet of seeds. Not only is gardening good fun, it teaches:

• Observation: watching the changes and growth.
• Responsibility: watering and weeding.
• Patience: waiting for the fruit or vegetable or flower to mature.

Some easy projects for kids include:

• Pluck dead blooms from flower beds or containers.
• Make leaf rubbings using thin paper and a peeled crayon or soft pencil to do various leaf and bark.
• Grow broccoli sprouts for your family dinner, using 1-T of broccoli seeds and a jar covered with some nylon, secured by a rubber band. Each day allow the seeds to soak in warm water for three minutes, then drain. Directions for how to grow your own sprouts.
  
• Put vegetable tops in glasses of water and gravel and watch them sprout! Try onion, radish, sweet potato, beet, parsnip, or turnip. Have older children note the progress in a book or draw what they see.

For more great gardening tips and information about composting, download the ACHS Wellness Guide here.

Grow-It-Yourself Alfalfa Sprouts More Fun Than They Sound

An ACHS student post on our Facebook has prompted us to update an earlier post about sprouts.

Alfalfa sprouts are a valuable source of vitamins A, C, E, and K, and the minerals calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and iron[1]. Sprouts have also been shown to include concentrated amounts of phytochemicals, which support optimal health and wellness.

Alfalfa sprouts are easy to grow and make flavorful additions to raw-food meals like salads, sandwiches, and main dishes like quinoa tabouleh. Other kinds of sprouts, like broccoli sprouts and Brussels sprouts, make crunchy, flavorful additions to cooked dishes (or roasted in a little garlic, olive oil, and sea salt as a side dish).

Read directions for how to grown your own alfalfa, in our earlier post here.

For more tips about how to eat sprouts and fun, family-friendly growing projects (like broccoli sprouts) download your free copy of the ACHS Wellness Guide here.

[1] For a clinical summary of the health benefits and potential contraindications of sprouts, read the Sloan Kettering website here.