Gardening is a fun and therapeutic activity especially after a long winter. For kids, it also has many developmental benefits! It encourages them to eat healthier, learn responsibility, connect to the earth, while providing fresh air and physical activity. It is also an excellent bonding experience between you and your children.

For us, it provides a time of day where we can slow down for a moment and enjoy some time with each other and the earth. I recommend giving your child their own garden space and allowing them to choose which seeds to plant. It is fun to see what they choose! This year, we are also going to set up a little fairy garden to add some magic to our garden.

It seems so simple but going outside to eat is extremely fun and special for kids! Pack a lunch and some snacks and go to a park and set up. I find that having a picnic with my kids can turn a bad day completely around. If my toddler is giving me a hard time all morning, going outside with our lunch makes a huge difference in everyone’s mood.

Another fun picnic idea is dinner. Pack your dinner up and go to a beach or park to watch the sunset. Let the kids run wild and play! This will help them sleep better while creating lasting memories.

After being cooped up all winter it’s important to get out and connect to nature again. Our favorite activity to achieve this is hiking and walking on local kid-friendly trails. Encourage your children to stop and smell the flowers or listen to the sounds of the forest along the way. Hiking or going for nature walks with kids can be extremely fun but make sure you have realistic expectations for your adventure! Know that you likely won’t make it to the end and that’s okay because it’s all about the fun you had along the way.

Pressing flowers is a favorite activity of ours and spring provides the perfect opportunity for this before the summer heat takes away all the blooms. Go around your yard or neighborhood and collect wildflowers with your child. Once you have some, sit down together and press them in either a book or a flower press. My daughter loves doing this because later we use her pressed flowers for crafts and she is extremely proud of her flowers.

This also provides an excellent learning opportunity. Help them identify their flowers and teach them about the various plants they are observing. Pressing flowers will encourage them to be creative while learning along the way.

Get dressed up all fancy and take a pot of tea and some cookies outside. This is a fun and magical experience that your child will be sure to remember. This can be a bit messy but it is a blast! Our favorite tea party tea is chamomile because we grow it in our garden and it is calming. Make sure to add some cool water or ice to the tea so that it isn’t too hot!