Teaching Kids about Soil

Last weekend when we put in the firepit and laundry line my husband and I agreed on where to put a small garden for this year. We do plan to expand along the north fence line but this year we have so many other projects we decided on a small kitchen garden right by both back doors so we can maintain it easy. Yesterday I went out with the culti hoe and got to work transforming the grass near the back doors into a garden bed. While digging I decided it was the perfect time to teach the kids about soil.

After I got the first section dug up a good bit I called the kids over to talk about the soil. What is in the soil? What lives in the soil? What can we do to make our soil better for our plants? This is a great way to help kids become aware of what is around them and make better choices with that knowledge.

I pulled out the lesson plans for day 1 of May from our Mother Goose Time Garden theme box and used it to make the lesson easy. I didn’t have them to plan a lesson and get this dugout in time for the shopping trip Monkey and I are making this weekend.

By observing the soil we were able to deduct that we picked a great place for growing the garden. The amount of bugs and worms crawling in the deep dark soil tells us that we are off to a great start.

While the little one decided she did not like the feel of crawling in the grass she was in heaven when we helped her walk around the garden bed over the loose soil. I spent a good half an hour helping her walk around before her brother took over so I could get back to work on digging.

Soil invitation to Create

When the weather warms and we can take the mess outside I really love the fun invitations to Create Mother Goose Time sends us. Invitations to create get messy so we do them outside to enjoy the amazing benefits of unstructured art. By choosing to take the messy stuff outside I can truly embrace the mess and let the kids explore without stressing over clean up. If you stop by and find paint in the grass this would be why.

This invitation to create was an easy one. I grabbed the lesson bag out and tossed it into a tote with glue, scissors, and a bin of crayons and went out back. After exploring the soil in the garden bed as we dug it out I showed the children the inspiration photo Mother Goose Time included and challenged the children to create using what they find in our backyard. So simple and it was a great way to get them exploring.

The adventures with these kids are endless. This garden will get full family labor of love and I so look forward to growing some of our food again. But the next garden be I think I will convince my husband to help dig out. I will happily make him some soda cupcakes and I’m totally up for hotdogs over the fire for doing the work. Join us for 31 days of family adventures be sure to follow us and stop back daily.