Gardening with kids? These 10 things will make it a great experience for everyone

How much time to children spend outdoors? According to parents, it’s around 1.5 hours a day. This includes going to school and back and the time spent in the playground. This figure is quoted in a study by outdoor clothing company Namuk (in German) presented at the beginning of 2024. An interesting detail is that two thirds of the parents who took part in the survey confirmed that they spent more time outdoors as children than their own offspring.

That means children these days spend less time outdoors than any generation before. And when they do, it’s increasingly rare for them to find (undeveloped) spaces where they can just enjoy being kids. Not to mention experiencing fields and soil, plants and beneficial insects. This is where non-profit organisation «Acker Schweiz» (page in German) comes into it. Since 2017, it’s been reaching out to Swiss schools and kindergartens with its educational programmes «GemüseAckerdemie» and «AckerRacker» (both pages in German), in which kids grow vegetables in their own fields together with their teachers. So far, the programme has got more than 6,000 children gardening at 63 learning locations.

Daniela Schneider from «Acker Schweiz» knows from experience what the outdoor study has put into figures: «Children spend less and less time outdoors. There’s more high-density construction and living today, and children tend to be disconnected with nature – and that’s not just the case for city kids. As a result, there’s also much less appreciation for natural foods. Many children don’t know about seasonal and local fruit and veg. And who can blame them when supermarkets offer avocados and passion fruit or bananas all year round, as if these exotic specimens grew here.»

This makes it all the more important to give the children a rake and shovel and get gardening with them. I asked an expert what you should look out for:

1. Gardening with children isn’t about perfection

Red, plump tomatoes. Carrots that are crunchy, straight and without any discolouration. That’s what vegetables look like in the supermarket. One of the elemental things children learn from gardening is to appreciate nature and all its produce – no matter what it looks like. «This also helps avoid food waste and teaches children to preserve resources,» says Daniela Schneider. «When children grow their own vegetables, they’re extremely passionate about it. So they’re happy to eat very small or wonky carrots.»

2. What children learn out in the field

When you’re gardening with children, you’ll automatically be teaching them how to grow plants from seeds and what to look out for when planting, watering and harvesting. But it’s about much more than that: «Children experience how they can have an impact in the field and learn responsibility,» says Daniela. «This also improves their ability to work together.» Learning about how nature works is far more exciting for young gardeners if they’re presented with examples that are vivid or even tangible. That’s why «Acker Schweiz» prioritises small experiments in their curriculum. «We introduce ladybugs when lice have infested plants, so children can experience first-hand how to use beneficial insects in the garden instead of pesticides. Many children are often repulsed by earthworms at first, because they’ve never touched one before. But by the end of the season, they all love them and even see who can find the biggest worm.»

3. Child-friendly plants for your garden

It’s a good idea to reserve a patch in the garden for your kid. Daniela recommends a width of 60 centimetres for kindergarten kids and 80 centimetres for older children. This allows budding gardeners to reach it from the sides without having to step on the bed. «When selecting vegetables, we focus on varieties you can eat straight from the garden and that are easy to grow,» says the expert. «This makes the experience that much more rewarding. Radishes, carrots, sugar snap peas and lettuce are great. But go easy on the latter, it shoots up faster than you can eat it.» According to the expert, you should avoid poisonous plants as well as a large number of climbers or large plants. If you want to plant flowers, it’s best to go for classic field companion plants, which are often edible. They include marigolds and cornflowers, for example, which are easy to care for. And who doesn’t love sunflowers? These can be sown next to the field or in pots.

4. How to garden without a garden

Let’s assume you don’t have a garden, but just a balcony. Or not even that. What to do? «Balconies are fine for growing vegetables in pots. Climbing cucumbers, for example, only need little space. Tomatoes and potatoes will also grow well. Non-poisonous beans are suitable for indoors, as are sugar snap peas and chilies. Perhaps there’s even room in your home for a small raised bed by the window – that’s how Germany’s vegetable class «GemüseKlasse» does it.

5. The rules for gardening with a child

There are some basics young gardeners need to know. «What we teach all children right from the start is not to run across the beds, but to keep to the paths instead. Another thing: any gardening tool with prongs must be placed with the prongs facing downwards.» This also applies to gardening at home. If your garden doesn’t have paths, teach your child to stay on the grass along the edge.

6. How to support little gardeners

Every gardener knows about those tedious tasks, such as pinching off wilted plants, weeding or cleaning garden tools. Should children be involved in these, too? «Some jobs are difficult for children, such as digging at the start of the gardening season. Most kids will need help simply because of the weight. But then there are plenty of tasks kids can do on their own. My advice would be to create a checklist for recurring tasks, and make sure the kids take care of these in their own bed at least once a week.» The checklist includes to dos such as hoeing and watering, but also less popular things such as weeding. In any case, it’s easier to teach children which plants they shouldn’t pull out, says Daniela: «Having to learn which plants are weeds can be overwhelming.» Daniela emphasises that the most important thing is for children to discover and explore as much as possible when gardening. Therefore, observing and watching are an essential part of the week. «By looking closely, the children can also see whether a plant is infested with lice or if it has yellow leaves. Sometimes, you have to remind them of that. The only thing they rarely forget is harvesting.»

7. Ways to keep kids entertained in the garden

«Most children never get tired of observing things. If you’re gardening at home, I’d involve the kids when you’re deciding what to grow. That way, they’ll feel responsible for their plants.» Daniela’s tip? Stop reminding your child to look after its radishes. Instead, just go out to the garden together and see if your child remembers. DIY labels are good little reminders and make navigating the plant bed easier. «I’d strongly recommend labelling everything anyway.» Sounds like a good idea for gardeners of all ages.

8. Dealing with disappointment

Some things will always go wrong in gardens. Ongoing rainy weather, undetected pest infestation, not being able to water your plants when you’re on holiday… «Mishaps are part of gardening with children,» says Daniela. «What I find important is to talk about it afterwards, to ask yourselves what went wrong. What could you have done differently and what was out of our hands. Should we have used more compost? Was the soil too dense? Fortunately, almost everything can be reseeded or planted until August or September. But when things do go wrong, the most important thing is to observe and accept it.» It’s very rare for a whole harvest to go south. However, it’s still advisable to grow a variety of things to reduce the risk.

9. Optional gardening tasks

There are many things children can do to bridge the time until the harvest. Depending on their age, they could make garden decoration, create plant profiles for the veggies or keep a diary of the growth stages of their beans. The «Acker Schweiz» educational programme includes learning units and experiments at schools. For example, putting soil in sealable jars and observing it for two days. Or collecting a rainbow by finding things in the garden for each colour and sticking them on a piece of paper. Discovering and looking at different leaf shapes and drawing them is another activity. «We’ve found that gardening alone isn’t enough.» You can still make garden decorations in winter, when the outdoor plants are dormant.

10. Essential equipment

No doubt, miniature shovels and rakes for small children’s hands are super cute. They often even come in a practical set with a carrying bag. However, the expert from «Acker Schweiz» has some solid advice: «We recommend avoiding two things: children’s sets made of plastic and gardening tools specifically aimed at children. Plastic crumbles very quickly when it’s exposed to the sun. And tools for children are fine for playing in a sandpit, but the material’s often far too flimsy and will easily bend when it’s put to use in a real garden.»In other words, go for quality right from the start and invest in regular gardening tools for your kids.