Gardening for toddlers

[goldenorbspider]

Can someone give me some easy grow ideas to do with a three year old?

Previously tried to plant lavender but the cat peed all over it and killed it. Going to get some net covers this time to try and put her off

Bump anyone?

Planting seeds? Nasturtiums come up nice and quickly (if you can put one between the edge of a transparent container and some soil or damp cotton wool then you can see it germinate. Soaking the seeds overnight can help speed it up a little. Or edibles? Tomato seeds and peas / mangetout / beans if he/she likes to eat any of these.

Try again with lavender, and other herbs are nice for kids because of the interesting smell factor. Pots might put the cat off a bit and if you plant mint it’s recommended to put it in a pot to stop it spreading all over. Rosemary’s pretty tough, there are loads of interesting different types of mint, scented pelargoniums (also sometimes called geraniums). My kids like to make ‘potions’ with nice smelling leaves, flower petals... and mud, it’s a bit messy but keeps them happy.

You can also get packets of mixed annual flower seeds marketed for kids. If you put these on bare soil be prepared with lots of spiky twigs or something or cats will think you’ve made a toilet specially for them.

PS for lavender and other herbs I mean buy in pots, not from seed.

Sunflowers?

Some suggestions here:

Starting gardening with kids http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/3857323-Starting-gardening-with-kids

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/gardeningwithhchildren/plantstotryeasy1.shtml

Also, our cat loves eating cat grass.

I grow them in small pots from cat grass seeds bought on eBay. They germinate quickly but have to keep doing it as she polishes them off in a month or so.

Not particularly productive, but fun and educative, are the things we used to do as children:

Growing a runner bean in a jar - put a bit of water in the base of a jar, line the jar with a cylinder of stiff absorbent paper (blotting paper, paper towel etc), tuck a bean half way up between paper and jar. It'll absorb water from the paper and grow so you can see both shoots and roots.

Effect of light on plants - Take a wide diameter tin and remove both ends. Put a potato inside. Cover one end, point the other to the light. When the potato shoot reaches the end, cover the the "light" end and uncover the other - the shoot should now turn 180deg and grow towards the other end.

Cut off tops of carrots and parsnips and stand them on a damp tissue. They'll grow frond-like leaves. Keep watered and add dinosaurs.