Want Kids to Eat Vegetables? Plant a Garden

Preschoolers are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables when the produce comes from their own garden rather than a supermarket, concludes a study by researchers at Saint Louis University. More specifically, preschool children from rural southeast Missouri were more than twice as likely to eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables per day if the food was homegrown. These children were also more likely to prefer the taste of fruits and vegetables to other foods, to see their parents eating fruits and vegetables, and to have a greater variety of fruits and vegetables in the home.

Want help getting started, or looking for ideas on how to include kids in your gardening efforts?

• Kidsgardening.com, run by the National Gardening Association (NGA), has lots of information, including a Parents’ Primer, classroom projects, and (through the associated NGA site), the handy Pest Control Library.
• From the UK comes Gardening with Children, full of project ideas and plant facts from the BBC and the Royal Horticultural Society.
• Parent Hacks lists a number of ways to create a kid-friendly garden, vegetable or otherwise; e.g., leave a small area that kids can plant themselves.