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5 Fantastic Reasons to Grow Food With Kids
Growing food with your kids is one of the healthiest, most inspiring activities you can do. It's very easy to grow fresh, clean food together using a Click & Grow Smart Garden. Our self-watering gardens make the process of growing food simple and fun for all ages. If you’ve always wanted to grow food with your kids, why not start today? Here are just a few reasons why it’s so worthwhile...
1. Kids develop healthy habits
Eating habits are said to be formed in childhood. That’s why it’s awesome if children can get into a habit of appreciating homegrown food at a young age. By growing food as a family, kids can become used to having fresh produce in their diets, free from any harmful additives. Dinnertime suddenly becomes a lot more interesting when they get to taste the food they’ve helped to grow themselves.
Image: @marijaanus
2. Kids learn how plants grow
Growing food with kids encourages them to ask ‘scientific’ questions. How do seeds grow? How long will it take? Why do plants need water? Why do plants need a period of light and darkness? This is a great opportunity to teach kids about the way plants grow and brush up on your own knowledge at the same time!
3. Kids learn that life is precious
Growing food is a fascinating experience. Watching a tiny seed sprout into a fully grown, edible plant is both incredible and intriguing at the same time. Kids get to develop a healthy sense of ownership and responsibility over the plants they grow. Furthermore, they gain hands-on experience of harvesting food and finally being able to eat it. By growing plants, kids learn the importance of caring for living organisms.
4. Kids learn to care for the environment
It’s astonishing to think how many miles food potentially travels before reaching supermarket shelves. Furthermore, most food transportation is fossil fuel based, producing vast amounts of carbon dioxide which warms our atmosphere. It’s estimated that transportation is responsible for 24% of direct CO2 emissions from fuel combustion.
Image: @urbanfarmerly
By growing some of your own food as a family, you’re helping to lower the reliance on food transportation. It also reduces the amount of miles you have to travel to buy food from stores. Furthermore, when growing in a smart garden, you have control over the amount of food you grow, which helps you minimise waste. Growing food is a practical way kids can care for the environment.
5. A great bonding activity for you and your kids
Modern life can be extremely hectic. Kids are busy with school and parents are busy with work. It’s important to find time to do things together. Growing food is a beautiful way to bond and make memories. Gardening activities give you a common goal of growing specific plants, exchanging thoughts on the plants and having a shared sense of accomplishment at the results.
Inspiring kids to grow their own food may be one of the greatest gifts you ever give them. For further reading, check out our blog posts:
5 Beautiful Ways That Gardening Benefits Kids
Kids’ Gardening Activities & Easy Plants to Grow Indoors During Lockdown
10 Fun Recipes You Can Make With Your Kids
Shop Smart Gardens for the whole family
