Every year we plant a garden. Well, every year we try to plant a garden. My mom was the ultimate green thumb and I will never pretend that I am as cool as she was with plants, but I can get the job done in a pinch! One Spring, about 5 years ago, we decided to give pumpkins a try. Pumpkins are fun to grow because they grow fast!! It is easy to see progress with the wide spreading vines and huge leaves. As the plant matures it begins to produce pretty yellow flowers. Soon we noticed that some of those flowers had small bulbs at their base and others did not. My kids started asking about how the pumpkins were produced. And thus began a natural lesson on female and male parts, fertilization, and the creation of offspring!!! Every day, sometimes every other day, my kids would run outside to look for female flowers. A real-life seek-and-find scene!! Excitement always accompanied their discoveries! We’d rejoice when we saw bees busily working in the flowers and hope that they’d mix the pollen from both the male and female flowers so we’d get some pumpkins!!! We all rejoiced when the pumpkins were produced and did our best to create a healthy growing environment for them!
This lesson in pumpkin growing and production opened the door naturally to explain how human babies are made as well. Both a male and female are necessary for fertilization. This exercise teaches patience too as we’d discover that often the baby bulbs would not produce a pumpkin.
This lesson was easily grasped by my 5 and 6 year olds. My younger kids learn to recognize the flowers with bulbs and without. My older kids would then pay attention to different plants and try to decipher how they created fruit as well. Also, a desire to help bees and the world around them was instilled in their young minds. Wins all around!
I already knew that gardens are full of many learning opportunities! They are a great way for kids (and everyone) to learn to take care of things and feel pride in the literal fruits of their labors. There’s the need to protect your plants from bugs and weeds and the need to remember to water them appropriately–much like our own bodies! There is a lot of trial and error in gardening, just like life. Some gardening seasons are better than others. AND did you know that if you speak kindly to plants they will grow better? One of my children, upon hearing this, went out daily to encourage our pumpkins. We had a pretty bad hail storm that year and our pumpkins still made it. I am convinced that they continued to grow because they were loved daily by that kid.
“If speaking kindly to plants helps them grow, imagine what speaking kindly to humans can do”
So if you’re looking for a fun and easy way to get started speaking about ferritization with your kids–plant some pumpkins!! Want to teach your kids responsibility? Try sunflowers! Want to teach your kids to speak kindly to others? Have them compliment your flowers!! Want to engender generosity? Share your fruit with others!! Gardens are magic!! While it is still cold in a lot of places right now, potted plants can be nurtured too! Ask your kids what they’d like to see grow and have them do some research to know what care is required!! It is so satisfying to see plants grow under your care, and even more so when your own kids are growing too!!
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Kayleen
