Cohen Whitney - The Book of Gardening Projects for Kids

GARDENING
PROJECTS
FOR KIDS

101 ways to get KIDS outside, DIRTY,
and having FUN

WHITNEY COHEN and JOHN FISHER
OF LIFE LAB

Thanks are offered to those who granted permission for use of materials but who are not named individually in the acknowledgments. While every reasonable effort has been made to contact copyright holders and secure permission for elements reproduced in this work, we offer apologies for any instances in which this was not possible and for any inadvertent omissions.

Copyright 2012 by Whitney Cohen, John Fisher, and Life Lab
Photo credits appear on .
Design by Jody Churchfield
Contents page illustrations by Lorena Siminovich
Sidebar illustrations by Joel Holland

Published in 2012 by Timber Press, Inc.

The Haseltine Building
133 S.W. Second Avenue, Suite 450
Portland, Oregon 97204-3527
timberpress.com

2 The Quadrant
135 Salusbury Road
London NW6 6RJ
timberpress.co.uk

Printed in China

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cohen, Whitney.

The book of gardening projects for kids: 101 ways to get kids outside, dirty, and having fun / Whitney Cohen and John Fisher. -- 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-60469-373-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-60469-245-7 (paperback)
1. Gardening. 2. Gardening for children. I. Fisher, John, 1970- II. Title.
SB457.C63 2012
635--dc23

2011036778

A catalog record for this book is also available from the British Library.

To our families, and every family that
has come to treasure muddy
footprints, berry patches picked clean,
and all the unexpected delights
of children in the garden.

We are so grateful to the many long-standing family gardeners who shared their treasured garden experiences with us. Your traditions, recipes, ideas, and stories inspired us not only as authors, but also as parents. Thank you: Beth Benjamin and Towhee, Tim, Kyla, and Olive Huxley; Sarah Berkowitz and Adam, Charlie, and Kate Underwood; Christof Bernau; Sally, Miles, and Blake Carlile; Amy Carlson and Meg and Greta Lehr; Sharon DanksBay Tree Design; Aumar and Jiraum Duryea; Laurel, Alonso, Evan, and Eli Granado; Trish and Lee Hildinger; Stacey, Evan, and Selah Hirscheel; Stacey Kertsman; Matthew LevesqueBuilding Resources; Tracey Matthes; Kris Nemeth and family; Erika Perloff and Marianna Keel; Caitlin Phillips and family; Kate PurcellKates Kitchen Gardens; Micah Posner and Akiko, Tamarah and Emuna Minami; Paul Simon and familyNational Gardening Association; Katie Stagliano and family; Rachael VanLaanen and Scott and Cora Mae Brinton; Deborah, Karsten, Saskia, and Malichi Wade; Donna Wolper; Kim Woodland; and Ama and Sergino Zenya.

Thank you also to our colleagues and supporters at Life Lab and beyond. Specifically, thanks to Abby Bell, Amy Carlson, Ildi Carlisle-Cummins, Juliana Grinvalsky, and Michael Matthews for contributing kid-friendly recipes; Amber Turpin for translating all of the recipes into a common language; Elizabeth Hill for sharing your garden art wisdom and photographs; Abby Bell, Amy Carlson, Gail Harlamoff, Allison OSullivan, and Amber Turpin for testing and photographing recipes; and Life Lab interns for testing recipes and creating art projects.

Finally, we want to thank our own families from the bottom of our hearts.

From Whitney: Thank you Tod for playing with Nation (not to mention keeping our family garden growing) day after day while I typed away. And to both Tod and Nation, thank you for knowing when to call an end to the typing and insist that I join you outside.

From John: Thank you Nadine for supporting my long days and nights on the computer and for letting me sleep in when I needed it. Neli, thanks for putting up with me taking pictures of you constantly when we gardened together.

A little gathering here, a little exploration there.

Think back.Can you remember a natural, outdoor space that held some magic for you? Maybe it was a lake where you discovered the peace of rowing a boat or skipping stones, or a field of tall grass where you played hide-and-seek with friends.

Over time, all of us discover certain outdoor places where we feel both a sense of peace and the spark of adventure. In these places we feel that we are part of something immense and phenomenal as we remember our connection to the plants and animals, sun and rain, soil, and everything else that makes up the natural world.

Now imagine if you were able to spend time in this place every day, year after year. Envision watching this place grow and change over time, just as you grow and change. What impact would it have on your life? How might this place influence your perspective, your decisions, your sense of yourself and the world?

This is the gift of the family garden. As we harvest vegetables, run through the sprinklers, or gather with friends to celebrate the apple harvest, the family garden is a place whereday after day, year after yearwe are reminded of our membership in the intricate web that connects all living things.

Many gardeners find that once they have children, gardening goes the way of late-night dinner parties and Sunday morning sleep-ins: right out the window. Raising kids and maintaining a garden can be a juggling act and, at times, a familys garden may be forgotten or neglected. In this book, we hope to make it easier for you to merge the garden into your family life, to engage your children in various aspects of your outdoor spaces, and to manage your family garden, no matter its scope or scale.

It may seem counterintuitive, but kids can make great gardening companions. In home gardening, rewards may be measured in basketfuls of strawberries, tomatoes per plant, or even the diameter of the largest pumpkin. Once you involve kids, however, you may start to look for other rewards, such as the frequency with which you hear phrases like, More kale, please, or I watered my pea seed every day, and today it is being born! Your childrens love for the outdoors, their sense of connection to plants and animals, and their enthusiasm for fresh fruits and vegetables are the real harvest of a family garden.

Picture this. Sonya, age 8, is weeding her pumpkin patch. Out of the corner of her eye, she is surveying the corners of her family garden, looking for the toad she heard croaking last night. Her mother is pruning a shrub and giving the trimmings to Sonyas 6-year-old brother, who is collecting the big sticks for a fort and adding the small trimmings to their compost pile. Sonyas father is grilling garden-fresh vegetable kabobs for everyone, while her grandmother uses a field guide to identify the bird she sees playing in the birdbath.