Helping children go green

My heart swelled this morning when out of the blue my 3 year old asked me, “What can we do to help Mother Earth today?

Trying to contain my enthusiasm (because enthusiasm sometimes backfires with her), I gave her a few ideas:

“Well, we could color on both sides of the paper. We could ride the bus to school instead of driving our car.”

Then she suggested, “Or we could feed the dog.”

Sure, sweetie. We kind of have to do that anyway.

I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong way to teach environmentalism to children, but I’m pretty sure that if you teach them to love nature you’re off to a good start.

Besides simply spending time outside, a fun way to do that is to plant and care for a miniature garden.

What is a miniature garden? I kind of think of it as a dollhouse for the outdoors.

There are some companies that sell kits to get you started. You provide a container—perhaps an old Radio Flyer wagon with holes drilled into the bottom for drainage—or a corner of your yard, and they supply a small house, tiny wheelbarrow, itty-bitty pots and maybe even the seeds or starts to grow dwarf-like plants that become the home’s lawn and landscaping.

Rosemary might become a tree. Hens and chicks might be the home’s scrubs. And moss serves as grass.

Many of the garden’s accessories, such as small pots, might be less expensive at a craft store like Michael’s than through specialty stores, by the way.

Once established, a child could spend hours imagining the small family that lives in the woodland home or the fairies and other creatures that visit.

We gave our daughter a “wee garden” for her third birthday last summer. I don’t think we did enough to show her how to use it, so she hasn’t become enthralled yet. A 4-year-old friend of hers is enchanted with it each time she visits, though, so maybe we were just starting too young.

And who says it has to be just for kids anyway? I could indulge my lifelong fantasy to be a wood sprite with one of these.

Check out these links for products and inspiration:

Hover over this photo of a miniature garden to learn what plants the gardener used to achieve different effects.

The children’s design blog Ohdeedoh has a discussion going about miniature gardens right now.

Three companies with miniature garden products include Two Green Thumbs , Enchanted Gardens, and Wee Garden .

And here ‘s a Better Homes & Gardens article on the topic.

Does anyone have their own miniature garden at home?

Photo courtesy of Weegarden.com