Compost and worm farms, Guest Posts

Guest Post: Worm Farms for Kids

Posted on by Erica
09
May
Worm Farms for Kids by Mackenzie Kupfer
Mackenzie shares with us her tips on worm farming for kids.
Mackenzie Kupfer has been a lover of all things green since the age of six when she began gardening with her Nana. She is currently an online publisher for the provider of flower gardening supplies, Avant Garden Decor. In her free time, Mackenzie enjoys attending garden shows, hiking, and collecting ceramic tea sets.
Some gardeners take their craft so seriously that they forget the beauty of allowing children to help in the garden. If you are too uptight about your garden, it can create an unpleasant experience for both you and your kids. The trick is to make gardening an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. For kids to enjoy gardening, you need to work to make it fun for them and what is more fun than getting dirty?
Aside from helping you dig holes, the best way to let your kids get dirty is to involve worms. Kids love to play with worms and worms are great for your garden so it’s a win win! You can send your kids on a worm finding expedition and have them count the worms that you dig up while gardening. If you want to take it a step further, you can start a worm farm with your kids. Worm farms are great because you can turn your table scraps and yard debris into nutrient rich compost for your garden and a nice home for worms. It is also something that can be done year round. Continue reading →

Flowers, Garden activities for kids, Guest Posts

Guest Post: A Sweet Pea Tee Pee for Saint Patrick's Day

Posted on by Erica
13
Mar
Narelle Debenham from Natured Kids
Narelle from Natured Kids explains how to build a sweet pea tee pee.
Today’s guest post is from Narelle Debenham, founder and director of Natured kids, a weekly outdoor playgroup for families and young children on the Mornington Peninsula. Narelle, registered teacher and mother of three boys, aims to have a positive impact on children’s lives, while deepening their connection with and understanding of our natural environment. For a free checklist of outdoor activities to inspire nature play with your children visit Natured Kids.
Sweet Pea Tee Pee - fun for kids
Build your own sweet pea tee pee with the kids this Saint Patrick's Day.
St. Patrick’s Day marks the time of year when sweet pea seeds like to be planted in our gardens. Forty children from the Natured Kids outdoor playgroup planted these sweet peas to make a living, scented, sweet pea tee pee to play in at the Groundswell Community Garden in Frankston.
To make your own tee pee with the kids in your garden you will need: Continue reading →

Guest Posts

Guest Post: How to Create a Rubbish Garden

Posted on by Erica
30
Jan
Chloe Marchbank is enjoys teaching her children about the environment and recycling.
Today’s guest post is written by Chloe Marchbank, a freelance writer and mum to three daughters. Chloe is passionate about teaching her daughters about the importance of caring for the environment and religiously recycles whatever and whenever she can.
Now, I know that on reading the title of this article, you’re probably thinking, “Why on earth would I want to make my garden look rubbish? Surely, I’m after tips on how to make it look nicer?” Well, before I go on any further, let me explain myself – because, when I use the term ‘rubbish’, I am in fact referring to using old household items to make your garden not only look nicer, but to also make it more eco-friendly – with the help of your children!
Your children are bound to love getting involved with helping you make these creations for your garden, and what’s more, it’ll also teach them the importance of recycling old items to help and do something positive for the environment around them. Continue reading →

Garden activities for kids

Berry Picking for Kids

Posted on by Erica
14
Jan

The Berry Patch in Turners Beach, Tasmania
Berries are great for kids. They love picking them from the garden and best of all they love eating them too! We have spent a fair amount of time this summer outside in various gardens and berry patches picking and gorging ourselves on fresh berries and Little Miss B has had a ball! Berry picking is a fun activity that our whole family enjoys – even Master D enjoys observing from the baby carrier. Continue reading →

Guest Posts, Our environment

Guest Post: Six Tips for Kid-friendly, Chemical-free Vegetable Gardening

Posted on by Erica
13
Nov
Alessandra Winfield
Alessandra Winfield enjoys spending time out in the garden with her kids and shares her tips
Today’s guest post is written by Alessandra Winfield – a Dietitian, homeschool mum of 2 boys and writer of the blog Practical Skills for Kids. She has been gardening since she was a little girl, learning from her grandmother. She just loves teaching kids all sorts of skills like gardening and cooking. 
As a Dietitian I am seeing a lot of children and adults with food sensitivities. Unlike an allergy, food sensitivities can be subtle and symptoms only appear when the person has eaten over their threshold on certain types of food. While there is much more research needed in this area, there have been suggestions that chemicals in farming may have contributed to these sensitivities.
One of the best skills we can teach our children is how to grow food without the use of chemicals, also known as organic gardening. Here are my top six tips to deter the damaging pests and diseases in your garden: Continue reading →

Competitions and Grants

The Junior Landcare Backyard Challenge – How Does Your Backyard Grow?

Posted on by Erica
16
Oct
Get the kids outside taking photos in the garden today
The Junior Landcare Backyard Challenge is on!
WE WANT KIDS TO TELL US: HOW DOES YOUR BACKYARD GROW?
Whether it’s a farm, a suburban veggie patch or an apartment balcony herb garden, Yates and Junior Landcare are asking kids around Australia, “How does your backyard grow?”
The 2012 Yates Junior Landcare Backyard Challenge is getting kids to answer this question with a short film or a photo, allowing them to showcase the unique aspects of their local environment. Entries have already started pouring in and we are seeing how diverse the backyards of Australia are through the eyes of young people. Continue reading →

Guest Posts

Guest Post: The Laneway Park – A Community Garden for Kids

Posted on by Erica
10
Oct
The Laneway Park project sign
The Laneway Park project is a children's community garden
Today’s guest post has been written by Lee Upton, mum of three and currently working as a researcher on a University program focusing on children’s fundamental movement skills, physical activity and nutrition. She is passionate about kids getting hands on in the garden and being an active member of her community working on The Laneway Park children’s community garden as well as her children’s school kitchen garden.

As a mum of three and a passionate gardener, I love nothing more than seeing my kids get their hands grubby planting seedlings, their eyes light up as they pull a carrot from the garden and how a favourite snack is handfuls of mint straight off the plant. Continue reading →
Guest Posts, Our environment

Guest Post: Sharing Our Values with Children

Posted on by Erica
Teaching kids about sustainability
Leah Wheatley writes about sharing our values with our children
Today’s post is written by Leah Wheatley – environmental scientist, mum and writer of the blog Along The Way. She enjoys writing about sustainability, parenting and wellbeing, and is passionate about practising what she preaches:
Being an environmental scientist, it has been very important to me to ensure that my daughter has an appreciation for the amazing natural world around her and the fragility of it. It has actually been quite simple and she has needed little encouragement so far to embrace my sustainability values. Here are my top tips to ensure sustainability values are passed on to the next generation: Continue reading →

Competitions and Grants

Gardening 4 Kids Celebrates their 2nd Birthday with a Giveaway

Posted on by Erica
28
Sep
Gardening 4 Kids celebrates 2nd birthday
We’re celebrating our 2nd birthday!
I can’t believe it – this coming Monday (October 1st) is our 2nd birthday! The time has really flown by and Gardening 4 Kids has continued to grow at an amazing rate. In this time some of our greatest accomplishments have included:

  • increasing our range to now stock over 60 different products,
  • attending markets, expos and other community events where we’ve been able to meet our customers face-to-face,
  • supplying large corporations with their children’s Christmas party gifts, and
  • winning the 2012 Green Lifestyle Award in the Kids Category. Continue reading →
Awards and Media

Gardening 4 Kids Wins Best Kids Company in Green Lifestyle Magazine Awards

Posted on by Erica
G Magazine cover Oct/Nov
We are thrilled to be awarded Best Kids Company award for the Green Lifestyle Awards 2012.
We are so thrilled and honoured to announce that Gardening 4 Kids has won the Best Kids Company award as part of Green Lifestyle magazine’s inaugural Green Lifestyle Awards 2012. Continue reading →