Grow herbs together at home
Introduce your little one to gardening with these easy-to-grow indoor herbs.
You don鈥檛 need a whole farm, or even any outdoor space to start growing things with your child. Planting some seeds in a pot to keep on the window sill is a fantastic way to help little ones start to understand where food comes from.
Garlic
All you need for this one is a simple garlic clove from the supermarket. You should start seeing green shoots in around 7-10 days, so even impatient toddlers won鈥檛 have too long to wait. Your garlic greens will be ready to eat in 2-3 weeks.
Level up: Having your child do some cooking using what they鈥檝e grown will be a huge boost to their self-esteem, and can even help to encourage fussier eaters to try something new.
Basil
When you鈥檙e looking after a plant like this as it grows, it can be useful to get some child-sized tools such as a mini watering can that your little one can use by themselves - it鈥檚 great for building their sense of independence and helps develop physical movement and fine motor skills.
Level up: You could get your child to make some plant labels to mark when the seeds were planted and to help you both remember what they are going to grow into.
Mint
Keep your little one involved as you鈥檙e planting the seeds. Ask lots of questions - where do they think would be a good place to put the pot and why? Ask how long they think the mint will take to grow, and what they think it might look like.
Level up: Take photos or draw pictures of your plants at different stages as they grow. You could make a scrapbook to help your child remember the process of planting and growing and remind them how far their plant has come!
Play the Down on the Farm game and care for your animals, plant seeds and see them grow.