Ground rules kids will love
THAT wicked invention, summer vacation, is already here -- a time when many parents respond with a feeble invention of their own: day camp. Unfortunately, even with soccer, chess and cartoon appreciation camps covering nearly all the days of summer, mom or dad invariably will face a few white-knuckle mornings when the kids wake up without a routine. Where can you turn for inspiration?
The garden, of course. After breakfast, simply employ the ageless command, “Outside!” Shout it maniacally. Wag your finger at the yard. Do whatever it takes to get them into the garden. Then shut the door.
Your kids will be momentarily stunned. “What is this strange, exotic place without a joystick?” they will wonder. Instinctively, they will begin searching for a couch. That’s when you will step out in your finest grungy clothes and, smiling, will ask, “Who wants to build a lizard lounge?”
Five summer projects to begin developing a young kid’s connection to the garden:
1. Lizard lounge
Gather sticks, stones, broken bones and a bucket for making mud (your concrete), then stop suddenly and ask: “So how should we build a house for lizards?” Kids will follow your lead, so commit. Enthusiasm is crucial. Once they have bought into the project, let the children take charge. Built in a warm, relatively dry area, a shady little structure will entice lizards to move in quickly. Soon the critters will be teaching the value of beneficial predators, eating young slugs, grasshoppers, crickets and other little bugs. After the lounge is built, have your kids act as superintendents of the property. This is how the garden guides a child: It illustrates how one small action can reap observable, definitive rewards. There -- one morning taken care of. Think of it as an introductory event. Now you can roll with this new form of entertainment in myriad ways.
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2. Treasure garden
After the kids are asleep, sketch a map of your yard. Burn the edges, splatter some iced tea on it, punch your husband in the nose for the requisite bloodstain. Crumple and uncrumple it. Tape the map to the underside of a kitchen drawer, then devise some way the kids can discover it. This map should steer them around the garden, perhaps from the yellow rose to the old bent tree, from the birdhouse to the broken sprinkler. Of course, don’t forget “X” marks the spot where you could bury a can with a few gold coins in it. What’s wonderful about this adventure is how thoroughly it helps your kids, perhaps for the first time, see the garden in both a macro and micro way. With your guidance, they can begin to see cause and effect, the interdependency between the plum tree and the gardenias, between the gardenias and the rolly-pollies, noting how different parts of the garden are linked.
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3. Botanical name game
What to do when a freak solar storm knocks out all Xbox operations? Try teaching your kid how to be a genus genius. Holler “outside!” Have the Latin botanical names of two or three of your plants memorized (or written on your palm). Kids don’t know Latin is difficult. To them it’s just a few weird words. But here’s the fun trick: Have your kids give each plant a pet name: Holden, the Jacaranda. Fruit Cow, the Musa. Mr. Stink Pot, the Sinarundinaria. Walk around the neighborhood and see if you can find more examples of these plants. Get your children to learn 10 botanical plant names, and that’s 10 more names than many adults can recite. Heck, you might get a retirement beach house from the kids’ “Jeopardy!” winnings. At a minimum, your kids will begin to feel more comfortable with the language of botany and will be more informed when navigating the nursery years later.
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4. Census 2006
Before starting this one, you’ll need one of those inexpensive plastic magnifying sheets from a bookstore or pharmacy. Then set out with the kids to make a list of all the living creatures in your yard or part of your yard. Turn over stepping stones, search through shrubs and trees, carefully look through the woodpile, patiently finger through each other’s hair in primate fashion. You’ll be amazed at how much life you will find. Act very official, use a clipboard and have everyone put on a tie. If you come across a beetle or bird that you don’t know the name of, just make a silly one up together and give it a colorful description. What’s vital is that your kids come to comprehend how ridiculously immense their world is, and how endlessly they can explore it.
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5. Sacred ground
Our growing season is so long that we can often purchase organic vegetables (not sprayed with growth inhibitors) at the market, take them home, plant them and away we grow. Plantable foodstuffs include potatoes, leeks, carrots (greens attached), Jerusalem artichoke, garlic, dry beans, chayote (plant it whole), seeds from melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, papayas and peppers. It’s fascinating to watch kids associate a distant farm with the food on their plates. Failures in the garden only enhance an appreciation for the farmer. You might get your kids to eat more fruits and veggies this way. OK, probably not. But do let your babes have a place where they can plant whatever suits them, in whatever design suits them. Make only one request: to stake out 1 square inch using toothpicks and a ruler. This becomes their sacred inch. Explain that all ground is sacred -- every last inch of it.
