Looking for an inexpensive activity for you and your child that doesn’t involve carpooling? Look no farther than your backyard.

Introduce your children to gardening. It grows more than snap peas and tomatoes; it also buds self-understanding and self-empowerment, says Barbara Richardson of the National Gardening Association.

“Gardening shows kids that they’re capable and intelligent,” she says. “It promotes healthy attitudes and empowers them to take action and make their own decisions.”

When you give your kids permission to dig in a pile of dirt that isn’t the sandbox, you’ll sow values that they’ll carry into adulthood. Knowledge. Patience. Strategy. Creativity. Responsibility.

And the time spent outdoors in the garden will make up for those hours in front of the television and the computer — or even replace them, especially if you challenge the kids to hunt for aphids or other pests that they can squish with impunity.

Plant fast-growing seeds — beans, sunflowers or radishes — that will give your little gardener near-instant gratification and results. Pumpkins take longer to grow, but they may give your child the most bang for his gardening efforts: Imagine his thrill at growing his own jack-o’-lantern. Tasty treats like strawberries and sugar snap peas are also good garden ideas. Remember when planting to be sure to note which seeds or plants in the garden are poisonous if ingested.

How do you make the garden a place your child will want to frequent? The National Gardening Association offers these tips:

— Give them a personal patch. Even if it’s just a spot to dig a muddy hole or look for beetles, having their own plot gives kids a sense of ownership and adventure.

— Leave room for good old-fashioned digging. Don’t urge your child to fill in all of the holes that they’ll inevitably dig — they’re great places to look for worms or bury treasures.

— Guarantee kid gratification. Encourage kids to start some plants from seeds so that they can see a plant’s growth cycle from seed to bloom. Sunflowers are particularly kid-friendly and sprout within eight weeks; radishes sprout in just a month. To keep it interesting in the beginning, visit a nursery and let your kids pick out blossoming plants, such as pansies, that they can put in the ground and enjoy now.

— Find a fun theme. Get kids excited by planting a theme garden. Choose plants that attract butterflies, such as lilacs, coreopsis or buddleia, and you have a “Butterfly Garden.” Choose brown-petaled plants like chocolate cosmos and ‘Chocolate Soldiers’ columbine and you have a “Chocolate Garden.” Pick plants starting with the letters of your child’s first name and you have a “Name Garden.” Be creative and brainstorm with your child to invent your own theme garden.

— Break the rules. So what if the plant rows are crooked or the tomatoes are next to the daisies? The real beauty of a garden is being able to hear your child say, “I did it myself.”