7 Gardening Games For Kids

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7 Gardening Games with Kids. Sure, they love to play in the dirt outside.

What child doesn't? Your challenge is to keep that interest level high. Here's how.

1 Flower Rangers:

Master growers define a weed as any plant in the wrong place.

Roses can be weeds if they are invading your watermelon patch. Weeds are bad because they steal nutrients that our flowers and veggies need.

Show children how to distinguish the `good guys' - or `most wanted' bugs - from the dirty dozen `bad bugs'.

Set up an adversarial relationship with weeds. They are "invaders" and must be eradicated.

As the Flower Rangers, your kids must eliminate these evil enemy forces. (Oh, heck, let them wear costumes if they like.)

Let's get our game on!

2 Weed Whackers:

It's a contest: Who can pull the most weeds each week?

The winner gets to pick a movie to see. The reward for a morning of weeding?

A rain dance in the sprinkler!

3 Rain, Rain Come and Play:

Kids like to play in water.

Buy a watering ward or a nozzle with several settings to encourage this natural affinity.

Show the kids how to set it on `shower' so they don't wash the plants away with a powerful jet of water.

You can also buy hose heads of different shapes to spray the lawn or flowerbed.

This is also a good opportunity for lessons about runoff.

Let the kids water for five minutes. Dig down a couple of inches and show them how the soil is still dry underneath.

Explain that if you don't water often, the topsoil creates an impermeable barrier and sheds the water.

4 The Grateful Deadheads:

To keep annuals blooming, you have to cut or snap off spent blossoms (heads). This is a very fun task for kids.

5 Snail Races:

Set a timer and see who can collect the most garden snails (or slugs) in 10 minutes.

This is a great dusk-time game, as that's when you'll usually find these little slimy plant-decimaters out for a snack.

Or, you could make it even more fun and do it by flashlight.

6 Aphids Away:

Aphids are those little black, green or white bugs that swarm on your prize roses and leave nothing in their wake.

The best way to get rid of these little pests? Now's the time for that powerful jet spray.

Take aim and... The first kid with an aphid-free rosebush wins!