Urban or Rural Gardening: 5 Essential Tips to Garden with Your Child

Spending a day feasting on cherries picked straight from the tree, napping under the same hackberry tree, savoring the taste of cherry tomatoes stolen from the garden… “Who doesn’t have a childhood memory connected to gardening?” asks Ghislaine Deniau. As a nature educator, she assists schools and daycare centers in setting up their own gardens, providing children with both emotional and educational experiences.

“Gardening reconnects you with your body, enhancing both fine and gross motor skills,” says Ghislaine Deniau. Young children navigate uneven ground or tall grass, handle small seeds, and get their hands dirty in the soil.

“It also develops social skills,” adds Laurie Aubanel, who also supports the creation of school gardens through her organization Plumes et Graines. “Skills like patience, understanding the seasons, and sharing, since I garden with several children. For older kids, it teaches them to think about ‘why was my plant eaten, what happened, and how can I prevent this?’” Realizing that they can grow plants also boosts “confidence and self-esteem,” notes Marie-Laure Girault, co-director of Frene—a network for environmental education.

“It’s ultimately about spending time outdoors, in contact with nature,” emphasizes Ghislaine Deniau. Clearly, for those who practice it, the benefits of gardening with children are unquestionable… But where to start? Decatur Metro has compiled five useful tips for both indoor and outdoor gardeners.

There’s no age limit to start gardening. However, before 18 months, the garden is primarily a space for sensory discovery. This is the approach taken by an association in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés (Val-de-Marne). On a 60-square-meter plot, they have created a garden mainly for childminders and toddlers. “We’ve planted aromatic plants they can smell, and a dedicated area with different materials—sand, gravel, pebbles—that the children can touch and walk through,” says Clément Charleux, co-director of the association.

From the age of 2, children can start engaging in simple planting and watering activities, says Laurie Aubanel. This is also when they begin their first experiments, such as the classic one of growing lentils in a jar with cotton wool. However, at this age, “they’re eager to pull things out and dig their hands into the soil,” the educator warns. The desire to explore can quickly lead to chaos. “So I recommend giving them a space where they can be a little wild.” It doesn’t need to be large: a pot on a balcony, a square meter in a garden, or even less, will do.

“Up to 8 years old, children are naturally drawn to activities like planting, watering, and weeding,” observed Ghislaine Deniau. “Then, starting in pre-adolescence, they begin to drag their feet. With older children, I therefore suggest more complex construction activities: building huts, compost bins.” However, there is one activity that works with “all ages, even high school students,” she continues. “Harvesting and tasting! I’ve conducted raw vegetable tastings where they were amazed by all the flavors.”

“How often I hear ‘don’t touch that, it’s dirty!’” laments Laurent Bureau. “No, it’s not dirty!” exclaims the retired individual. Resident of Château-Thierry, he decided two years ago to open his garden to nearby schoolchildren. He created an association, encouraging gardeners across France to do the same online.

In the daycare center, “sometimes kids arrive in the morning dressed in nice clothes,” notes Ghislaine Deniau. It’s hard then to suggest they muck about in soil and water. To fully enjoy the activity, it’s best to wear appropriate clothing. Or maybe lay a large plastic sheet down in the living room if there’s no terrace available.

Our two nature enthusiasts also strive to combat “the fear of little creatures, often passed on by parents,” observes Ghislaine Deniau. “In my garden, there are water reserves with water lilies, dragonflies,” shares Laurent Bureau. “With a net, I’ve scooped out tadpoles and dragonfly larvae. They were initially scared.”

At the same time, overcoming this fear is relatively easy at these ages. “Animals are what interest them most in the garden,” he has noticed. A snail or a slug can create quite the excitement. “The challenge is to foster a sense of curiosity rather than a predatory or domineering attitude towards nature,” explains Clément Charleux.

It’s better to start small than to risk giving up mid-way, tired of all the weeding and watering. “You could start with a planter or even a potted plant,” suggests Ghislaine Deniau. “A tomato seed is already a whole little world.” She emphasizes the need to set up the gardening spot “in view of the children,” to help them remember regular care.

It’s also important to “choose easy plants,” says Laurie Aubanel. “Lettuces, tomatoes, strawberries, 18-day radishes because they grow quickly…” To prevent watering from turning into flooding, she recommends using a spray bottle instead of a watering can. “Broad beans and beans are big seeds that are easy to handle,” adds Ghislaine Deniau. “Zucchinis are easy too, but they take up a lot of space!” For flowers, she mentions nasturtiums and cosmos.

Herbs are recommended by all our interviewees, both outdoors and indoors: mint, lavender, lemon balm, thyme, sage, rosemary. They require less attention “except basil and parsley, which are more delicate,” warns Laurie Aubanel.

“If you have a balcony, potato towers work well too, and the harvest feels like a treasure hunt,” the educator adds. However, if you don’t have a balcony, it’s better to avoid vegetables that need pollination (like tomatoes and beans).

Finally, to maximize your chances of success, the educator from Plumes et Graines recommends using fresh seeds with good germinative quality and fresh soil, rich in nutrients for our little sprouts.

Gardening is a commitment. Once the seed-planting workshop is done, it’s far from over! That’s why it’s important to start small and “not try to do too much,” says Ghislaine Deniau. You won’t have a perfect garden in the first year… Or ever, actually! “It’s important to normalize not knowing how to do something; you can learn along with your child,” she explains. Indeed, even a failure, when analyzed, is a learning opportunity.

You should also expect that “children might sometimes lose interest, forget about the plant,” she says. During these times, “it’s okay to step in. Especially to prevent gardening from becoming a tedious and obligatory task.” By persevering, the parent sets an example and “reminds that gardening requires patience. This is interesting in a society that values immediacy,” thinks Marie-Laure Girault.

The effort is rewarded by the children’s progress. “Quite quickly, they take on a caring role. They remind each other or adults: ‘be careful, you’re stepping on that plant,’” she has observed.

Finding the space and time to garden isn’t possible for everyone. To combat inequalities, “it’s important to involve children in gardening at educational places such as schools or leisure centers,” insists the head of the Frene network.

Providing children the opportunity to garden is also a matter of political choice. Because gardening not only creates beautiful family memories, it also helps “future citizens understand the world we live in, and how to live on this planet under acceptable and sustainable conditions,” she believes.



What activities this summer?

The ideal is to start in the spring with seedlings that can be followed through to harvest. If you’ve missed that opportunity, no worries, there are still plenty of activities you can do this summer.

For instance, let your child pick a plant to be responsible for watering, organize a mulching activity to reduce water needs in the garden, and of course, if you’re fortunate enough to have harvests, get them involved in picking and then preparing the fruits and vegetables from the garden. You can also observe butterflies, insects, birds, and other garden inhabitants.

Some books on the subject