About Sweetmama Editor
Nadine Silverthorne’s love of journaling began in Grade One with the entry, “I am the greatest dancer!” Two babies (and countless diaper changes) later, she has found her home away from home as editor of SweetMama. Don’t miss her humorous bi-weekly accounts of the joys and pains of working while raising them fabulous.
Wee Green Thumbs
silver spoons canada
(Apr.19.10)
Working or not working, if you're like me you're looking for things to kill time do with your kids. Between this early, unexpected spring and Earth Day this week, I've been reading up on gardening with kids and thinking a lot about teaching them about where their food comes from, etc.
So I was super excited when I received The Budding Gardener ($16 online, currently $10 at Home Hardware locations) to test. This all-Canadian kit provides everything you need to get your children thinking about growing stuff. The decorative box comes with a biodegradable pot, a paper bag of soil, pencil crayons, colouring sheets and an activity booklet. Oh yeah, and a packet of sunflower seeds!
It's ridiculously easy to put together and a good way to spice up the dead zone (after naptime and before dinner). Even my two-year-old got in on the action. Thankfully the weather was warm enough to play with the kits outside -- she insisted on pouring the dirt, "All. By. MYYYY! SELF!"
We decided to plant them and leave them up at my mom's house. Two reasons:
1) We have a lot of trees on our property and don't have a super sunny window. I couldn't deal with the heartbreak of plants that wouldn't grow due to insufficient light.
2) Giving the kids weekly visitation rights to their plants meant I wouldn't have to deal with their daily obsessive checking and questioning. In other words, the plants would seem to grow quicker at weekly intervals. (Hey! I've got to manage expectations here!)
My mom called about four days later and asked for Nate. "Something is growing Nate! You'll have to come see!"
We've been checking back for the past few Saturdays and the kids are over the moon, watering and talking to the fruits of their labour. I'm sure there's a big lesson to teach them that I'm missing, but for right now, seeds+soil+sun+water=plant seems to be all they need.