As a mother of a four-year-old, I recently happened to be listening to a podcast featuring neuroscientist Dr Vidita Vaidya, where she was talking about child brain development. She mentioned something very interesting: carpentry versus gardening.
She explained that in carpentry, you have to be precise — you need to know your destination and work towards it (paraphrased). Gardening, on the other hand, is the opposite. You cannot train or manipulate a plant to produce a specific number of flowers. A child’s brain, too, needs that kind of freedom — much like gardening (paraphrased).
While I have always been a big proponent of gardening for kids, I had never fully realised the incredible potential gardening holds for encouraging creativity and curiosity.
So, for all the mommies and daddies, here is a simple but fun gardening activity you can do with children aged three to seven years.
Let’s grow some microgreens!
Collect some methi dana (fenugreek seeds) or mustard seeds from your kitchen. The regular kind will do, but if you live in a humid place like Chennai, try opening a fresh packet to ensure the seeds haven’t lost their potency.
Use any plastic container — the kind you receive with food deliveries works perfectly. Puncture a few holes at the base using something sharp.
Use any garden soil, or even reuse soil from a dead plant somewhere in the corner of your balcony. Just make sure to loosen the soil first.
Fill the container with soil almost to the brim. Now, together with your little one, sprinkle the methi or mustard seeds on top.
Water the soil well. Don’t worry too much about adding extra water — it will seep out through the drainage holes you created.
Cover the container with its lid and keep it in a sunny spot. By sunny, I mean that direct sunlight should fall on the container — even an hour of direct sunlight is good.
Observe!
Ask your child to check the container every day without opening the lid.
What will they see?
Days 1-3: Water droplets forming on the inside of the lid.
Days 3-5: White, cotton-like roots sprouting from the seeds.
Note: We intentionally haven’t covered the seeds with an additional layer of soil because we want children to be able to observe the germination process.
Days 6-9: Now comes the star of the show — the leaves! This is the time to remove the lid.
Days 10-12: Let the plants continue growing.
After around 10-12 days: On a good day, cut the greens from the base of the stem, wash them, and taste them. You might be surprised at how these tiny leaves already represent the distinctive flavour of the seed they came from!
And that’s it! You have just grown your own fresh and nutritious microgreens.
Have fun gardening with your little ones and Garden Up!
