Happy Earth Day! Little M and I have chosen to celebrate Earth Day by adding a couple of plants to our, admittedly tiny, balcony garden. Whether you have a huge yard or a small balcony space, as we do, here are some tips for getting your little ones involved in gardening and caring for plants throughout the year.

I believe in the importance of teaching kids where their food grows and how it reaches our dinner table. Little M and I love visiting our local farmers’ market; planting fruits, vegetables and herbs is another way for him to learn and see first-hand how our edible garden grows. We also love to read and I was delighted to come across this lovely series of books, the Growing Garden Gift Set,  by Lois Ehlert. The set contains three books, Growing Vegetable Soup (beautiful illustrations about making vegetable soup from scratch, literally, including planting the seeds, weeding the plants and picking, washing and cooking the veggies), Eating the Alphabet (an A-Z guide to colorful fruits and vegetables), and Planting a Rainbow (about colors and flowers), as well as a flower garden poster. The books are a great read and perfect for introducing kids to gardening.

Here are some tips on planting an edible garden with kids, from Catherine McCord at Weelicious. Her children got involved by planting seeds, digging holes, using their watering can and watching their food grow “from seed to edible treasure.”

This Green Toys Indoor Gardening Kit is a cute and easy way to teach children about growing herbs and flowers. The kit includes everything to get you and your little one started, including pots, trowels, soil and organic seeds. It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Photos by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Weelicious and Green Toys.