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When you?re getting out in the garden, be sure to bring the kids along. They?ll benefit in all kinds of unexpected ways. Here are a few:
1. It will make them more likely to eat fruits and veggies
Think nothing will ever make your picky eater like kale" Try letting him grow the plant in the backyard. Research has shown that when kids have a part in growing their own vegetables, they?re more likely to eat them. One 2007 study from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that preschoolers who ate homegrown fruits and vegetables were more than twice as likely to get five servings a day as those who never ate food from a backyard garden. Plus, the mini gardener group preferred the taste of fresh produce to other foods. Another study, from the University of Florida in 2016, found that the effects of gardening with kids continue into adulthood, as college students ate half a cup more fruits and veggies if they were young growers. 2. It provides (fun!) exercise
Get your kids to put down the tablet and give you a hand. Though it might seem like planting, weeding, watering and harvesting veggies isn?t likely to work up a sweat, when the American Society for Horticultural Sciences actually measured those and other gardening tasks, they determined that nurturing a garden constitutes moderate to high-intensity physical activity for kids. Digging and raking were the most demanding tasks. And, if your kid doesn?t like those, send them running back an...