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Gardening with Children
Archives, Gardening with Children, Giveaway, Nature, Outdoor Play

Gardening with Children

Working in a garden helps connect children with nature and the cycle of the year, teaches children where our food comes from, and awakens wonder and awe at watching a plant grow from seed to flower or fruit.

Children as young as three-years old can begin helping in the garden.  They can help rake and hoe, and with a parent’s help, plant seeds in a small patch, tend the plants and watch them grow.

In Waldorf education, gardening is usually practiced with children and their teachers in kindergarten through second grade. Teachers know that gardening with children provides early science lessons, but more importantly, working in a garden cultivates a connection to nature, which will lead today’s children to become caretakers of the earth later in life.

Later, gardening is an important element of the third grade curriculum in a Waldorf school when children study housebuilding, farming and gardening.

A backyard garden provides a magical place in which children can play and explore.

The marvelous books Sunflower Houses and Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots by Sharon Lovejoy are filled with inspiring ideas for gardening with children including planting a “sunflower house” or “beanpole teepee” – gardening projects in which children can hideaway during enchanted summer days! Sharon’s books will help you and your child plan and grow a garden even if you are a complete notice.

URBAN GARDENING

And gardening is not limited to families who live in the country or in the suburbs. If you live in the city and don’t have a backyard, here are some urban gardening ideas for parens and children:

  • Plant flowers around the base of trees on your sidewalk
  • Plant window boxes
  • Plant and tend a planter outside your front door on a porch or stoop
  • Grow an herb garden in your kitchen (Harvest mint for tea and herbs for soup.)
  • Plant in raised beds on a roof

kids-urban-gardening

Children are naturally drawn to growing things from seeds. I still remember as a child planting carrot seeds in a little patch of dry dirt outside our apartment building in urban Los Angeles, and the wonder and awe of seeing the green sprouts from the seeds I planted and watered! How could I have guessed then that I would grow up to live on a farm in Maine and have large vegetable and flower gardens?

Bella Luna Toys is pleased to offer high quality gardening tools for children, kids work gloves, and a number of books on gardening with children to help children get started.

GARDENING GIVEAWAY

NOTE: This giveaway is now closed.

To celebrate spring to encourage families to plant a garden this year, Bella Luna Toys is pleased to have partnered with our friends at Johnny’s Selected Seeds, producers of high quality, non-GMO and organic seeds here in Maine, for a fantastic Kids Gardening Giveaway!

Win a shiny red bucket filled with kids gardening tools from Bella Luna Toys, six packets of easy-to-grow fruit, vegetable and flower seeds from Johnny’s Seeds and books to help you get started.

Kids Gardening Giveaway!

Win This Bucket of Goodies to Grow a Garden!

Entries must be received by midnight EDT, Monday, May 14, 2018. One winner will be chosen at random and announced on Tuesday, May 15. Good luck!

Congratulations to Glenda B. from Somerset, Kentucky who was our lucky winner! Thank you to all who entered.

Well may your gardens grow!

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Do you have a garden? Are you inspired to start one this year? Have an idea to share on gardening with children? Leave your comments here!

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Archives, bella luna toys, Giveaway, Travel

SUMMER GIVEAWAY! Win This Travel Tote for Kids

Traveling with Children this Summer?

COMMENTS FOR THIS GIVEAWAY ARE NOW CLOSED.

Thank you to all who shared a travel tip! I was amazed at all the wonderful suggestions our readers shared for traveling with children.

As a result of the large number of entries received both here on Moon Child and on Instagram, we chose TWO winners!

Congratulations to Meredith Baldwin (no relation) who won one of the Travel Baskets for sharing the following tip:

Travel tip: go to the bathroom before you leave 😉
I stapled a bunch of blank pieces of paper cut down to a smaller size for little children and told them to “write stories” by drawing pictures or using stickers and to tell me what was going on in their story. (They couldn’t write yet)
You can play this game: every person takes a turn saying a word or two going around to create a story. My girls LOVED a version of this when we made up quick fairytales-each person getting a turn.

Amanda Gregg @wholenessmom was the Instagram winner of the second Travel Basket. 

All Moon Child readers are invited to SAVE 10% off all items our Travel Games and Toys Collection through July 31, 2017 with coupon code: TRAVEL10. Valid only on in-stock items, while supplies last. 

 Enter Our Summer Giveaway to Win this Basket of Travel Games, Art Supplies, & Crafts!

Last week on Moon Child I shared my “Top Tips for Stress-Free Travel with Kids.”

This week, Bella Luna Toys is delighted to host a giveaway for a basket full of exciting games, art supplies, and crafts that will make traveling with children a lot more enjoyable.

This exciting travel tote includes one of each of the following:

⭐️ String Game from Sarah’s Silks
⭐️ Children’s Card Games Set
⭐️ Travel Bingo Game
⭐️ Bag of Crayon Rocks
⭐️ Box of Stockmar Modeling Beeswax
⭐️ eeBoo Jumbo Double-Sided Colored Pencils
⭐️ Quick-to-Knit Scarf Kit
⭐️ Rainbow Covered Woven Lunch Basket

Basket of Travel Games for Kids

TO ENTER

Earn one entry for each of the following actions:

  • SHARE A TRAVEL TIP:  Receive one entry by sharing your own travel tip or leaving a comment in the Comments section below this blog post.
  • TAG FRIENDS:  Receive one additional entry for each friend that you tag in the comments section of our Instagram Travel Goodies Giveaway photo.

Entries must be received by midnight PDT on Saturday, July 22th, 2017. One winner will be selected at random and announced on Sunday, July 23th, 2017. By entering, you confirm that you are 18+ years of age, release Instagram of all responsibility, and agree to Instagram’s terms of use.

Happy Travels and Good Luck!

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Enter our giveaway by sharing your own travel tip or leaving a comment below!

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Traveling with Children
Archives, Parenting, Summer, Travel

“Are We There Yet?” Stress-Free Travel with Children

Summer is here which means traveling by planes, trains, and automobiles for many families.

Here are some tips to help make vacation travel easier and more enjoyable for you and your children. Pack some of these recommended items in a travel tote before you depart, and you are unlikely to hear cries of “Are we there yet?” every half hour.

1. Allow Plenty of Time

We all know that travel is stressful. Alleviate some of that stress by planning ahead and allowing plenty of time to get there. If you’re traveling by plane, get to the airport at least two hours early to get through security during the summer  without worrying about missing your flight. If you arrive at your gate early, relax and pull out a game or art supplies from your travel tote to keep kids happily occupied.

If you’re traveling by car, plan on frequent rest stops (every hour or two) to to let kids go to the bathroom, run around, and blow off steam. Figure out how many 15-minute stops you will need to make along your journey and calculate your departure time to allow plenty of time for rest stops.

2.  Pack Plenty of Snacks and Water

Pack healthy snacks with lots of protein. Snacks high in protein, like nuts, peanut butter, or hard boiled eggs, will stave off the crash that comes after consuming high-carb sugary snacks and can lead to meltdowns. I think all parents would agree that there are few things more stressful than a child having a temper-tantrum on a plane!

And don’t forget to keep your child well-hydrated during flights which are notoriously dry. Dehydration can lead to headaches and crankiness.

Grimms Wooden Magnetic Puzzle

 

3. Play Games

Share the driving games you remember from your own childhood with your children. There is the classic “20 Questions” in which players try to guess what someone is thinking of by asking no more than 20 yes-or-no questions.

And there’s the “Alphabet Game” in which players try to spot each letter of the alphabet in sequence while driving down the highway—on signs, license plates, and billboards. The first person to get to Z wins.

On longer drives or when traveling by play, you can pull out your family’s travel tote filled with things like magnetic puzzles, books, and art supplies to keep children more quietly active.

4. Arts and Crafts

Pack art supplies. A pad of paper, crayons, and colored pencils not only get a child’s creative juices flowing, but can also be used for playing games like Tic-Tac-Toe or Hangman.

Crafts like knitting or crochet will occupy a child’s head, heart and hands on the road and produce a beautiful handmade item by the end of the trip!

Traveling with Kids

5. Listen to Recordings of Stories

There are lots of wonderful audio books of stories for children of all ages. The storyteller Jim Weiss offers a wide variety of stories for preschoolers (fairy tales and animal stories) to stories of Greek Mythology and King Arthur Stories for older children.

The whole family can listen while traveling by car, or a child can listen to an audio device with headphones when traveling by plane, while children are being introduced to classic literature.

6. Relax

Allow your child to be quiet with her own thoughts when she is calm. Time spent looking out the window and daydreaming are healthy activities and eliminate stress. Allow you child to sleep, when he is sleepy. A well-rested child will be much more cheerful upon arrival.

7. Toys and Supplies to Keep Kids Occupied

Here are some of my top recommendations for keeping kids busy on the road, by rail, or in the air:

Bon Voyage!

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What are some of your tips and tricks for traveling with kids? Share your ideas by leaving a comment below!

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