In this hectic world where family schedules are crammed with a million activities, gardening can be a wonderful way for you and your children to spend time together.

Kids tend to moan and groan at the prospect of yard work, as if it is a chore, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Children should want to be outside, playing and getting dirty, and parents can encourage that desire by instilling a respect for nature from a young age. Often, children who see their parents gardening will want to join in the activity, learning by example. Adults should try to make those first gardening experiences exciting and successful so children will want to continue their newfound hobby.

Give kids ownership of an area in your garden. And don’t micromanage their plot. Cultivate their natural curiosity by letting them ask questions, and kids will inquire, discover, learn and grow right along with the plants that they tend.

Garden classroom

On a recent day at Raintree Montessori School, dozens of children laughed as they planted, watered and played in the school’s gardens. Children from 18 months old to sixth grade attend the school, and each classroom is designated three bedding areas in which they can grow anything they choose.

photo by: Jennifer Oldridge

Abigail Fowler, 4, shown in an August 2005 photo, enjoys getting her hands dirty planting flowers at Raintree Montessori School, 4601 Clinton Parkway.

Many of the children have opted for edible plants that they harvest and snack on throughout the day. As school owner Lleanna McReynolds leads me on a tour, I notice an adorable blond girl washing the tomatoes she has just plucked from the vine, readying her bounty for other students to enjoy.

“Montessori said that we don’t give children a picture or image of plants and animals but rather give them the actual plants and animals,” McReynolds says. “It is all about the process of the life cycle, about nurturing and caring for living things.”

Raintree children spend at least a quarter of their day outside, in keeping with Montessori movement founder Maria Montessori’s mantra that “There is no bad weather, just inappropriate clothing,” McReynolds says.

Perched high above the gardens to get a bird’s-eye view of the children’s play land, I spot a large pond that is teeming with fish and is framed by a weeping willow. Closer to us, a magnificent romping area is protected by the shade of white birch, red bud and maple trees, and an outdoor amphitheater with built-in boulders seating lies to the left near a water garden under construction.

Madelyn Dean, 4, tends an area of the gardens at Raintree Montessori School with some of her classmates.

The water garden will be in memory of Sarah Elbayoumy, a Free State High school student who died in an automobile accident during a trip to research which college to attend. She attended Raintree from second to sixth grades.

“She was brilliant,” McReynolds says. “At her funeral, I kept remembering a poem that she had penned: ‘Tomorrow I may live, tomorrow I may die, but whether I live or die, tomorrow I will give.’ So we thought the best way to commemorate her and let her give even in death would be a memorial water garden.”

Budding gardeners

The Cox children of Eudora are such excellent gardeners that they’ve all won Champion Garden Display awards at 4-H fairs. They participate at the state level in Horticulture Judging, and their team placed first in the Wichita Garden Show. Not too shabby for a trio of teenagers: Mary, 16, Jacob, 15, and Alex, 13.

“Our grandmother first got us interested in growing vegetables that we eat,” Mary explains. “We started gardening when we were first able to walk.”

A group of children spends part of the morning tending a garden plot at Raintree Montessori School, 4601 Clinton Parkway. Many students choose edible plants that they can harvest and eat during the day.

The Cox siblings grow a variety of vegetables, fruits and flora, including asparagus, beets, beans, cabbage, dahlias, cilantro, gladiola, jalapeño peppers, okra, potatoes, sugar peas and more.

“4-H has definitely enhanced our desire to grow things,” Mary says. “We didn’t really know what a kohlrabi was until we saw it at the fair. We decided to grow it because we wanted to try new things.

“Another example of this is the blue or purple potatoes. We try to grow enough of each vegetable or plant to be able to enjoy ourselves as well as show them at the Douglas County Fair.

“We helped a Horticulture Fun Camp get started in the summer for even the littlest of 4-Hers to learn about gardening. It was there we gained more gardening experiences and met new friends also interested in gardening.”

So what is the appeal of getting dirty in the garden? For Jacob, it satisfies an urge.

“I like being able to walk out into my garden when I’m hungry and start snacking away at some raw veggies, melons or fruits,” he says.

For Alex, it’s all about the bottom line.

“I think it’s like a job,” he says. “I am able to harvest and sell the extra vegetables to make a profit.”

And for Mary, it’s a little bit of everything.

“Gardening is rewarding in every way,” she says. “A person is able to provide food and nourishment for themselves without having to rely on the local grocers. It’s a life skill that could definitely come in handy in hard times. It helps a kid appreciate where the food they eat really comes from.”

Garden therapy

“Gardening helps kids stay grounded – literally,” says Teri Seal, a child psychologist at the KU Medical Center in the department of psychiatry. “Reaping crops and tending to land can all be a very calming activity for kids. Our kids are pulled in so many directions anymore that taking time to get dirty, have fun and keep things playful is extremely important in every child’s life and development.”

Seal conducted a study that found that being in nature makes people happy.

“There are natural anti-depressants, and sunshine is one of them,” she says. “Our brains produce more efficiently with a certain amount of sun. So not only is gardening beneficial for our children’s bodies but also their peace of mind.”

Additionally, gardening can teach children important life lessons.

“What can be more exciting than creating and discovering life’s cycles? We each will be tiny at one point and then mature and die just as it is with plants; it is a mini-life lesson,” Seal says. “Another wonderful life lesson gardening helps convey is about delaying gratification. Children learn that you have to work on a garden now and wait for the results. This is an important aspect in developmental tasks.”