GARDENING!
Looking for an activity to do with your au pair children? Why not get creative in the garden! Ask your host family if they don’t mind you using a small patch of the garden to create a veggie patch for the children. We all know that spending time outdoors is great for your health and wellbeing and that growing your own flowers or vegetables can actually be therapeutic! Teaching children to grow their own food has been proven to encourage developmental milestones in a child’s life. It is such a fantastic life skill to teach children how to grow their own food.
Gardening engages in all your senses. Children can touch and see the soil, the seeds and the veggies, they can hear the sound of the water and sounds of digging in the soil as well as taste the veggies and fruits. Gardening encourages children to use all five of their senses as well as learn new concepts using their senses. Growing veggies will teach children about the environment and why it is so important to protect the environment. It is a great opportunity to teach them about water and soil conservation and how to care for their plants and the environment around them. Growing veggies can encourage children to eat healthy as they will be very excited to pick and eat the food that they grow. It is a good opportunity to teach children about the different seasons and weather patterns and how they affect plants. Every activity in the garden can be a fun learning experience for them and start teaching them responsibility.
So this week we decided to haul out our garden gloves and create a veggie patch! We visited our local nursery and purchased different herb and veggie seedlings. Beans, rocket, lettuce, mint, rosemary, cauliflower, beetroot and kale! At home, we found a perfect patch of ground which we decided to use for our veggie patch. It is positioned beautifully in the sun and is close enough to the tap and sprinkler system. We planted the seedlings and gave them a good watering. We even placed some pretty little trinkets in and around the patch, like little cement bunny stepping stones as well as some pretty rocks and glass ornaments. It has been a week and the veggies are looking fabulous!! See the pictures below of our gorgeous veggie garden, we are super proud of it!
