Hello friends, hope you all are doing well. Today, I am going to share some very easy gardening activities for kids. Since we are still not going outside and spending all of our time at home, I am always looking for engaging & fun activities for my son. Apart from playing, dancing, singing, and doing DIY and art & craft, we have also included gardening as an important activity in our daily routine.

The best part about gardening is that this is the only activity that can give children a feeling of being outside. They can be close to nature when attending to plants in the garden. The gardening activities have proved quite beneficial for my son.

Do you know garden activities can help reduce stress in children and improve their concentration?

We all know how the pandemic has made our life tough and we are constantly battling with our overwhelming emotions. But do we even realize that this situation is equally stressful for our children too? They can’t really understand what the pandemic is and why they are still not allowed to go outside or meet their friends. But I am sure parents can feel the stress build up in their kids.

You may also read – Staying active while staying at home with these Fun Activities with Family!

Nemit loves being close to nature & he enjoys spending time with plants. During the lockdown, I started involving him in gardening activities and I saw an instant boost in his mood. I have even noticed an improvement in his concentration. He’s learning to be patient and calm while spending time with plants.

So, parents if you have not yet started involving your kids in gardening activities, I would suggest that you do so now. Let your child spend time with plants. There’s no right age for a child to participate in garden activities, start as early as possible. You can simply start by showing them how to water plants and pull out the weeds. And gradually move on to complex activities like planting seeds, making organic fertilizer, preparing the soil for transplanting, etc.

You may also read – How the Lockdown helped Families to Adapt & Evolve?

Gardening activities are also an excellent way to learn about plants and healthy eating. You can talk about types of plants, parts of a plant, edible parts of a plant, seasonal vegetables, and fruits, pollination, seed germination, and many more. Since this will be practical learning, they will remember it forever. Alright now, let’s start with the gardening activities for kids.

Easy & Fun Gardening Activities for Kids

1-  Planting seeds in a DIY plastic bottle planter

First, you need to prepare a planter for this activity. We have made a DIY planter using a waste plastic bottle for this gardening activity. Please involve your child while making the DIY planter and talk to him about the concept of recycling and upcycling objects. We have simply cut a rectangle on one side of the bottle. You may also cut it in half and use it. Here, Nemit’s Nani has made a planter using an old light bulb, isn’t it looking beautiful?

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We have tried planting coriander seeds, you may use any seeds that are available at home and plant cuttings. If you use coriander seeds then you have to first prepare them before planting. Take seeds and crush them gently so that the husk opens up. Now, soak these seeds in water for 1 day. The next day you can plant them.

Here’s a quick video of Nemit showing how to plant seeds in a DIY plastic bottle planter. Check it out!

 2 – Gardening Activities for Kids, Planting Tomatoes

Now, this is a really fun activity for kids which you should definitely try. This was actually a task given by Nemit’s teacher during the online class where children were supposed to plant tomato seeds on their own. Again this is an easy activity which kids will definitely enjoy.

You may also read – How to make young kids pay attention during online class?

You just need 1 tomato cut into thin slices for this activity. Check out this video where Nemit is showing how to plant tomatoes.

3 – Plant a Flag and Grow a Seed

Now, this one is quite an interesting way to grow a plant. Last year, on Independence day, my husband received an unusual gift from his office. It was a Seed Flag Kit and we found it just amazing. That was actually a paper flag with a seed inside it. Nemit wore that flag on his white t-shirt to school for the Independence day celebration. And, in the evening we planted that in a pot that came along with the kit.

Guys, Independence Day is around the corner, why not try this kit instead of buying plastic flags this time. Check out the video below –

I hope you liked these easy gardening activities for kids. And, if you don’t have a garden but want to create a cute little green corner in your house then you can check out the below video. We have converted our small boring balcony into a beautiful and interesting balcony garden in just 5 simple steps.

Do tell me in the comments below how you liked these gardening activities for kids. And if you are already involving your child in the garden what all activities are you doing together.

The post Easy & Fun Gardening Activities for Kids to do at Home appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing well and keeping safe. Though the lockdown has ended, we are still sticking to the routine. It seems that we have reluctantly accepted the new normal. I am not saying it’s easy but knowing that it’s the best way to stay safe, we don’t mind continuing to follow the rules for a few more months. There are some things, which we enjoyed doing as a family and that helped us cope with the anxiety associated with the lockdown. In fact, these have become a part of our life now. So, today I want to share how these activities with family are keeping us sane at home.

I know it’s not easy for everyone to accept the current situation as the new normal. But for the sake of our family, we can at least try to look at the brighter side.

These 6 Activities with Family are keeping us happy even after the lockdown has lifted

The lockdown gave us an opportunity to discover our hidden strengths and work on our weaknesses on the personal front. We used our creative side to make dull & exhausting tasks fun for the whole family. It really helped us all to cope up with the stressful situation.

1 – Cooking is a Teamwork

I hate cooking when it is forced upon me, especially if I have to do it daily. My husband, on the other hand, didn’t know how to cook anything, except Maggi. And making tea. So, when we had to let go of our cook, we knew it would need a lot of teamwork. The first thing we did was divide cooking tasks based on our interests & capabilities.

Initially, Sumit took care of cutting & chopping veggies and preparing the dough for paratha or rotis. Gradually, he took over breakfast duty & now he makes the yummiest poha and vermicelli in our family. I take care of the cooking part, mainly lunch and evening snacks. Our dinner is rather simple; it’s the leftover food from breakfast or lunch. So, there’s no wastage either.

We also involve our kid, Nemit, in simple cooking during the weekend. He loves making sandwiches. Easy activities like peeling, mashing, stirring, pouring are good for young kids. By letting him participate in the kitchen work, we help him develop good eating habits too.

Cooking doesn’t seem like a burden anymore!

2 – House chores as our new Fitness Mantra

Just like cooking, we divided house chores too. We know cleaning and mopping the whole house is not an easy task. Moreover, it’s time-consuming for us. So, now we do it on weekends only as a family activity. Or, just when we feel the need. Sumit does the sweeping while I do the mopping. And, dusting is a fun game for Nemit.

You may also read – 5 Helpful Tips to Achieve your Health and Fitness Goals!

I’d never thought we could manage without our house help for so long. But we survived the difficult days and now ‘Do the house chores’ has become our new fitness mantra.

3 – Homeschooling can be Fun

With the lockdown, we were introduced to the concept of schooling from home through virtual classes. Initially, it was a huge task for us to make Nemit sit in front of the laptop. We soon realized we would need some creative ideas to make it fun and engaging for him. Once we changed the learning strategy as per Nemit’s interest, he adjusted to the new setting quite well. We focused on play-based learning and encouraged our son to use creativity and imagination in learning.

We can either crib and make things worse or we can look for alternate ways and make things work.

You may check out this post for some ideas to make young kids pay attention during homeschool classes.

4 – Making TikTok videos is one of the fun activities with family we enjoyed the most

We all know about TikTok and almost every other person has tried their acting skills on this app. We enjoyed making fun videos on TikTok during the lockdown. This is another activity, which we loved doing as a family and it really helped us in coping with the anxiety.

There have been many times when we didn’t feel like doing anything. When we were struggling at cooking and managing household chores, we often needed something to keep our spirits high. That’s when we became active on TikTok, watching funny videos would instantly uplift our mood.

Some of our best memories from the lockdown are the ones when we were creating fun videos on TikTok.

5 – Games & Fun activities with Family

We tried making the house chores, cooking and studies fun for all of us. But we still needed some entertaining family time to relax and rejuvenate. We couldn’t take Nemit to the park or even to the society terrace since it was not allowed due to the COVID 19 scare. So, we looked for interesting activities and games which we could enjoy at home together.

We did camping in our balcony garden, we plan day picnics, we enjoy gardening, we dance like crazy, we sing karaoke, we do fun yoga together, we make a lot of crafts, peek-a-boo and ludo are our favourite games.

It is not that difficult to stay happy at home, you just need to find out fun ways to spend time together.

6 – Some Screen time is Ok

We are very careful when it comes to screen time be it watching TV or using a mobile phone. I frequently feel the need to take a break from the devices and disconnect from the virtual world. And for that, I prefer taking a digital detox every month.

We love watching movies at the theatre, but that’s not an option anymore. The good thing is we still have OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, ZEE5, etc to enjoy uninterrupted series and movies. Once every week we plan a movie night. Sometimes we let Nemit pick a cartoon or animated movie which we all enjoy together.

You may read my review of the movie – Chintu Ka Birthday!

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It was not easy to stay positive throughout the lockdown. It is still not easy. But we have to adjust, adapt, and evolve to stay happy & sane during these difficult times.

You may also read – How the Lockdown helped Families Adapt & Evolve?

How are you coping with anxiety? What all things do you enjoy doing with your family? Tell me in the comments below.

The post Staying active while staying at home with these Fun Activities with Family appeared first on Growing With Nemit.