Planting Japanese maple seedlings with the children

what a great day u all had. my nephew planted asome pine seeds eighteen years ago....planted a little tree fifteen years ago now its about fifteen foot tall....hes so proud of it. . its great to get little ones involved with plants

A great learning experience for them and they look like they really had a great time. Well done!

That was wonderful to see.

Aaaww the little children look like their really enjoying the Potting Up stage to Tastey :) I like their Little Pot Trays :)

Great shots what a great way to get children into gardening well done!

Them kiddies really enjoyed themselves, wonder if they will still be interested in 10yrs time, well done children.

Brilliant.

Thats a great blog, how nice to see children getting into gardening, do you think we are all born gardeners but some just don't get the encouragement? Children really seem to enjoy it. I know i got a lot of encouragement from my grandfather and mother, she knows all the wildflowers and used to take us into woods to find them on walks and picnics, sad some children never get to do this, mind you my own daughter is not interested but then she's 15 and other things occupy her LOL!!

I remember when my Son used to love getting into Garden to help me :) He was only 2/3yrs then Tastey & knew almost all the Plants names that i grew :) But hes 19 now & only comes 2 garden to Lift Things i cant or 2 sit&enjoy :)

Great to see the concentration and sheer enjoyment on their faces ! Well done for helping nurture their love of gardening Tasteyg !

Sandra- Great story about your nephew and his tree, rightly proud he is :)
Bernieh- It really was a great experience! I like to see what children are intersted in and build my curriculum (referred to as emergent curriculum) off of it. Kids love to dig in the dirt and play with water...throw in some seedlings and it was pure gardening magic!
Hywel- Glad that you enjoyed the blog. It was a fun project and hope to do some more soon. We're going to make a veg patch with the kiddies soon. Will keep you all posted.
Jacque- They love getting their hands in the dirt and the fact that they made their own pots...was the icing on the cake! We use those trays for all sorts of activities...it makes clean-up a little easier.
Thanks Sueb- It got a little hectic doing the project and photographing it at the same time...but it all worked out :)
Clarice- They surely did enjoy themselves. I actually had to ask some to let their friends have a turn...they would have stayed there much longer if I let them. I wanted to make sure everyone got a turn to make one though. I think that I will set up an activity where they can pretend to pot stuff up with dirt and watering cans, they'd enjoy that. As long as there is someone in their life that values and nurtures their love of gardening I think they may be life long gardeners. I never had anyone in my life when I was young that showed much interest in gardening and look at me now :) As a young adult I noticed that my father ( I didn't live w him as a child), my grandfather and my uncle all enjoyed gardening.
Thanks Wagger :)
Personally Sewingkilla, I think that it's more encouragement...but I also think that there's something inside of you that truely loves that sort of thing. I don't know all the wildflowers by name (I wish I did though :) but I do know a lot of plant/tree names and point them out to the children when we go on walks. Like today on our walk I pointed out the japanese maple tree (the mama) and told the children that that was the mother tree that made all those baby seedlings that we planted yesterday and I told them the name of the tree and asked if they could repeat the name and they did. I also told them that if they took good care of their baby trees that they could grow that big and beautiful one day :)
Thanks BB- I loved to see the concentration & enjoyment on their faces too :) It was purely my pleasure to share that experience with them.
Thank you all so much for you lovely comments on this blog :))

Fabulous blog and the photo,s are great,a treat to see...

great pictures, love to see kids enjoying the plants, i used to be the same when i was a child, my grandad did local gardens and i use to go along to and help, they were the best days of my childhood, my grandad was a fine man,smiles and wet eyes here, thanx for bringing back the memories :)

Glad that you enjoyed the blog Lincslass :)
Tears of joyful memories ;~) Sanbaz Cheers to Grandads :)