About Herbs For Kids

So where do you start with herbs for kids? Herbs are fairly easy for children to grow.

From choosing their containers to choosing the herbs they will grow there are lots of choices to make. Will your children grow them from seed (they will need to be patient, this works better with older children). Or will you get small starter plants from a garden center.

If you know someone with a herb garden they may be able to give you some cuttings.

Small starter plants grow very quickly and kids will soon see the plants growing. They will quickly be able to smell and taste their herb garden.

  Pizza Garden

Last year we decided with the kids to have a go at gowing a pizza garden. We started by putting small tomato plants into a grow bag.

We got the kids to do a design for their pizza herb container. They then painted this on, we used little pots of acrylic paint(it is water resistant when dry. We chose to plant Basil, Garlic, Oregano and Parsley (seedlings we purchased)

The children filled the container with a good potting mix, then gently put in the seedlings. They used their water spay guns on fine mist to give the seedlings a drink.

A few weeks later they were able to harvest some of their crop. We then made a sauce for their pizza using the tomatoes and herbs. Yummy, what a great way to get kids interested in gardening

Easy herbs for kids

These can be grown from seed or bought as seedlings:

Dill

Lemon Balm

Chives

Sage,

Summer Savory

Mints

THEMED HERBS FOR KIDS

Why not try something a little different. How about a pizza garden with oregano, garlic and parsley.

Try a spaghetti garden with oregano, garlic, basil and parsley

.A lovely fragrant garden might have lavender, thyme, rosemary, mints and curry plants

.And to quench our thirst, lemon balm for lemonade, chamomile for tea, and mints for tea

Drying Herbs

• Another great activity is to dry herbs. This is easily done and can be used in recipes for kids.
• How about drying herbs to make your own pot pourri (you and your kids can choose your favorite fragrances
• Lavender bags are a fairly easy craft activity, the dried herbs can also be used to add fragrance to pillows and soft toys.
• To Dry Herbs
• Cut bunches of herbs on a dry day. Strip off lower leaves. Bunch together and tie stems with string.
• Put holes in a large paper bag. Put bunch of herbs in upside down and gather ends of paper bag around stems and tie
• Place bag in a warm room or airing cupboard for around two weeks.
• Check to see if herbs for kids are dried.
• Once dried store herbs in airtight containers.

SCIENCE

• Talk to your kids about what plants need to grow.
• Sun, water, warmth air and nutrients from soil.
• Try an experiment.
• Plant seeds into three small containers
• Put one pot in a dark place. Put one pot in the sunlight. Withhold water from one pot.
• Ask the kids to keep a record of what happens.

INDOOR HERBS

• Here is a list of herbs that will happily grow indoors:
• Basil, Dill, Chives, Fennel,
• Sage, Thyme, Lavender, Mint
• Parsley, Rosemary, Oregano
• They will need to be grown in a sunny well lit area of your home.

GROWING GARLIC

Get the kids to break apart a cloveof garlic.

The cloves can then be put into your container of compost about 2 to 4 inches deep and around 4 inches apart.

Before they flower, when the tips of the leaves turn brown, harvest and repeat.

DID YOU KNOW?

Herbs get a mention in the Bible. Dill, Cumin and mint come up in Matthew 23:23. Coriander seed is mentioned in the Old Testament in Exodus 16:31 and Numbers 11:7