What are the benefits of teaching young children to care for plants?
Plant care, like all Care of Environment activities, encourages young children to appreciate, care for, and enhance different aspects of their environment.
Learning to care for plants, specifically, has some unique lessons and benefits of its own.
Benefits of learning care of plants:
- Learning how to water plant
- teaches children how to wash the leaves of a plant
- teaches kids that a living thing needs water
- fine motor skills
- learning care of the environment
After a child has learned how to properly care for the plants in the classroom and at home, you may find that they notice when the plants are in need of care.
You might also observe that the child notices and appreciate other beautiful things in their environment, and may want to learn to care for those things, as well.
One thing I’ve observed in my own children is that their level of empathy towards plants and wildlife seemed to increase after we started doing activities with plants.
Supplies:
- tray
- spray bottle
- child’s watering can
- indoor plant (I recommend an African Violet or a Chinese Money Plant.)
- small scissors (for extension)
- cotton balls apron
- small bowl
The lesson
- Watering a plant.
- Invite the child to join you in putting on your aprons. Set the plant down on the work table.
- Put the watering can, filled with water, on the table next to the plant.
- Show the child how to hold the watering can, gripping it by the handle with the thumb placed over the four fingers and the non-dominant hand bracing the can below its spout.