Because playing with your child and creating constructive play activities is very important, you can turn to gardening to get your child used to understanding and respecting nature. He will find in this activity the opportunity to put himself in the skin of the gardener and the pleasure of immersing himself in the earth. Go to the end of this, and equip him with the appropriate material: a gardening kit for children. How to choose it? Here are my tips for a safe purchase.
How to choose a gardening kit for kids?
Giving a gardening kit to your child is not a trivial thing, because it will open the door to many other things in the future. So you need to pay attention to these selection criteria:
- The material of the tools
- The storage bag
- The age of the child
- The tools in the kit
For a child, the best material for a gardening kit is by far plastic : light, washable and less risky. You will also find metal and wood tools: these appear more dangerous, but are designed to be handled by children.
The choice of material will depend on the age of your child. Moreover, depending on the age, you will find kits more or less provided: we prefer the basics for a child under 4 years. From the age of 5, you can include other more substantial tools. Make sure there is a storage bag so that your child learns how to store and organize.
What’s in a kids’ gardening kit?
There are many different brands and models of kids’ gardening kits. However, they usually look the same: you’ll find the tools packaged separately, or grouping tools of the same type together. You will have the option to choose which tools to include or opt for a complete gardening set. Generally, all kits come with a storage bag.
A children’s gardening kit takes the real gardening tools, except they are miniature, and made of less offensive material for the toddler. You’ll find:
- Lawn mowers
- One or more potting shovels
- Hand rakes
- Transplanters
- and of course the indispensable wheelbarrow
- Watering cans
Some power tools are considered dangerous for children and are therefore only accessible to those over a certain age.
Why give a gardening kit to your children?
You can offer a gardening kit to your child for different occasions (holidays, birthdays…) or just to please them. All in all, the use of a gardening kit can only benefit your child, girl or boy:
- Development of a sense of responsibility
- Spend a special moment together
- Development of motor skills
- Awareness of the respect of nature
- Improvement of coordination
Above all, you establish a routine of privileged moments and parent-child complicity. Your child will grow up with good memories and will feel valued because you give him time. Make sure you do your chores together, not separately.
By assigning chores, you’ll increase your child’s sense of responsibility, as he or she will feel great and proud to help and make a change in their environment. Moreover, doing gardening and handling all those tools will develop his motor skills, as he will have to go, come, grab, squat, hold…
This will help him better coordinate and work on his concentration, and even his memory, as he will have to remember certain gestures for the next time. In addition to this, you will familiarize your child with nature and make him/her aware of how to care for it with respect.
