Keep Your Kids Engaged with Nature This Winter

Once upon a time, I had four kids under the age of five. As you can imagine, I was constantly looking for ways to engage them—you know, activities that were fun and non-competitive and that didn't result in a huge mess in my living room. We did lots of nature walks and spent as much time in our little family garden as possible.

These types of activities are more essential than ever during the winter. The coldest months of the year can be such a magical time for children, but it can also be really stressful for us parents when our kids can't go outside and burn all that energy.

So here are engaging activities you can do with your kids indoors to bring the garden into your temperature-controlled home if you can't go outside. I've also got some fun outdoor activities for warmer days so that your kids can get their much-needed Vitamin D.

Trust me, these fun activities will keep your kids occupied with nature instead of screens for at least a little bit each day this winter.

Run Seed Germination Tests

If your kids need to practice their math skills this winter break, you could have them run some seed germination tests on seeds that have been in your collection a little too long.

HOW TO CONDUCT A GERMINATION TEST

• Spread out 10 of the same type of seed on a damp paper towel.
• Roll up the paper towel and place it inside a plastic bag. Label the different bags for each type of seed you're sprouting.
• Place the bag in a warm spot.
• Keep the paper towel damp but not soaking wet. Spray it with water as needed.
• Once 7 to 10 days have passed, check to see how many of the seeds have sprouted.

Multiply the number of seeds that have sprouted by 10 to get the germination rate (2 seeds equal 20 percent, 5 seeds equal 50 percent, etc.).

Not only can your kids put their multiplication skills to the test and use percentages, they can also witness firsthand the different germination times of seeds. You can read up on the early stages of the plant life cycle and talk about the different parts of a seedling (like the radical and the cotyledon). Now you've got math mixed with biology and horticulture, so this is basically project-based learning, right?

You could take this one step further and grow your own sprouts in a jar.

Paint Rocks to Use as Plant Labels

Instead of buying plant labels or using thin popsicle sticks that will only last a season, you could have your children create plant tags for you. Go on a nature walk together and look for rocks with smooth surfaces. Then grab some paint pens or acrylic paint, plus some clear varnish, from the craft store to decorate the rocks.

I recommend laying down some butcher paper to protect the work surface. It's also a good idea to wash and dry each rock before painting them.

Your kids could draw an image of each different plant you'll grow in the garden and/or write the name of each plant on the top half of the rock—however you want to do it. Make sure to give each rock time to dry and then add a coat of varnish to protect the artwork from the elements.

Your kids will be so excited to place their rocks in the garden come spring!

Set Up an Indoor Garden

You and your kids don't have to wait until spring to grow a little bit of your own food. You can start an indoor garden today, without sacrificing too much space in your home. You'll just need some seeds and a couple supplies to get started, and some of these indoor gardening projects can even be done without any supplemental light at all!

My favorite winter gardening projects to do indoors include growing garlic greens, starting sprouts, creating a cut-and-come-again salad planter, setting up a little herb garden in your windowsill, and growing microgreens.

Honestly, your kids might find just as much joy from these projects that can be done right on your kitchen counter as they would from planting an outdoor garden. These plants all grow really quickly, so it makes it fun to check on them each day and note their progress. It also might encourage them to eat a few more green things this winter.

You can find more details for each of these indoor gardening projects here.

Regrow Produce from the Store

If you're just learning that you can grow fresh and delicious food from kitchen scraps, imagine how surprised your kids might be. You can regrow carrot tops, green onions, celery, and romaine lettuce from stumps leftover from dinner prep. You can also sprout the pits from avocados in some water. Supposedly you can even root a pineapple crown, but I've never had much success with that one.

Some people call this "garbage gardening" since you're using plant parts that would otherwise be thrown out—your kids might appreciate that. You could even tell them to eat their garbage when you snip some celery or romaine leaves for lunch.

These projects are sure to teach your kids about the reducing our waste. One man's trash is another man's garden, right?

Propagate Herbs

The word propagate just means turning one plant into more! Herbs are super easy to propagate. All you have to do is buy some fresh bunches of herbs from the grocery store and then place them in some water to grow roots. Once each cutting has formed new roots, you can plant them in the garden and enjoy fresh herbs all summer long. It's basically plant magic.

Once your kids have mastered propagating herbs, they can try to root all different types of houseplants.

Follow these steps to propagate mint, basil, and rosemary.

Take Over Houseplant Care

Giving kids responsibility over houseplants is a great way to teach the importance of being reliable. Younger children can mist leaves, clean dusty plants with a cloth, and rub some coconut oil onto the leaves to get a nice shine. Older children can take over watering and fertilizing schedules and pot up root-bound plants. Children of all ages can use magnifying lenses to inspect houseplants for teeny tiny pests like spider mites and thrips.

If you don't have any houseplants, you could always take your kids to your local nursery and let them pick out their own. Teach them about how plants have different sunlight preferences as you pick out a spot in the house for their new charge.

Check out these houseplant tips from Maria Failla if your household is new to the indoor plant thing.

Bundle up! Here are some fun activities to do outdoors in the winter, weather permitting:

• Build a bird house out of wood or set up a little bird feeder. If your kids are curious to know what type of birds hang around over winter, you could even set up a little trail cam nearby.
• Plant garlic cloves if your soil is still workable. Your kids will be excited to see them sprout in the spring if they placed the cloves themselves.
• Add some cold frames to your garden to extend your growing season for frost-tolerant plants. Kids in high school could even help make these simple cold frames. You could set up a science experiment to see how long plants will grow inside a cold frame versus without any frost protection. (My family turns everything into an experiment.)
• Go on a winter-themed nature scavenger hunt. Have your kids search for pinecones, evergreen branches, animal tracks in the snow—you name it.
• Document nature with creative videos, time lapses, and before and after photos of what's happening in the garden. This is great for preteens.
• Build a snowman. An oldie but a goodie.
• Learn how to compost and put your kids in charge of collecting kitchen scraps.

One More Idea: Plan the Spring Garden or Build a New Raised Bed

Kids as old as 8 or 9 could help you plan your garden for the spring and summer. You could pour over seed catalogs together and let them pick some new types of plants to grow. You could even grab them a simple raised bed kit like this one that they could assemble with you and then be in charge of come spring planting time.

For high school kids, you could let them design a new garden space or help you buy materials and put together a new raised bed. They could be in complete charge of the new planting space. I have a couple of these raised garden beds on wheels that my daughter is responsible for maintaining.

Time to Get Your Kids Outdoors or Bring Nature Inside

Whichever activity you choose, your kids can still have lots of fun this season, even when they're confined indoors on the coldest and dreariest of winter days.

My advice is just to pick activities for them that won't be based on their performance or feel competitive with siblings or become more of a chore than anything else. The idea of garden- and nature-related activities is to give them an escape, right? To allow them to connect with you and each other and with the world around them more.

I hope these activities allow you to grow alongside one another and enjoy some moments of wonder together. Thanks for being here and helping to make gardening ordinary again!