How Gardening Helps Children to Have a Healthy Development

Outdoors is an important place for kids to have a healthy development. Participating in different outdoor activities improves their health and supports their overall development. They learn to explore the world around them by observing, exploring, and interacting with its various natural elements. Daycare teachers encourage children to participate in outdoor learning engagements as during this time they may engage in complex imaginative play and much-needed physical activities.

As parents, you should provide your kids with opportunities where they can build connections with nature and the outdoor world. You can carefully plan some outdoor activities which can lead children to engage in various meaningful tasks and projects. 

You would be surprised to know that a garden can be an interactive playground for kids that can engage all of their senses. It is something where they will be able to touch and feel the fruits of their hard work, appreciate the brightly colored flowers, grow comfortable with natural fragrances, and the sound of rustling shrubs.

Gardening supports their holistic development. Below you can see instances of the many ways gardening can encourage children’s learning across the various learning areas.

Perceptual, motor, and physical development:

Kids are tactile and sensory learners, they learn the best when they explore things using their senses. They breathe in the fresh air and the Aroma of the plants and flowers around them. They can feel the different elements of weather and seasons. In Covina, CA preschools students practice balance by moving their bodies across grass and paths, through sand and soil, and over Hills and valleys. They develop motor skills as they hold and use different tools for gardening. Growing herbs and the feeling of producing something new can encourage healthy eating habits that will help them to be healthy and strong.

Developing language and communication skills:

You can encourage your kids to read various books about gardening and talk to them about the different growing processes and requirements of different plants and flowers. This will definitely expand their language and communication skills. Having rich conversations will support their understanding of the world and enhance their holistic development. 

Cognition skills:

Gardening provides children with the opportunity to have a closer look at wildlife and the life cycle of different plants. They would enhance their observation skill while examining the textures of tree bark, flower petals, plant stems, leaves, and seeds. The notice and compare the shapes, sizes, weight, and requirements of different seeds to grow. 

Social and emotional development:

According to the Daycare teachers, children should do gardening as it will support their emotional functioning as they express their feelings when plants thrive or struggle. Gardening can also help children to be more curious about how the world works. Their tactile and sensory experiences of gardening can help them explore nature in a better way.

So, if you are planning to do gardening with your little ones please make sure you use the right tools and follow all the safety measurements.