Permaculture & Kids
Permaculture is often about growing edible plants for adults to enjoy and provide food for themselves and their families. However, permaculture in the backyard add loads of opportunities for kids to get involved and be inspired by the natural world.
With spring finally here, now is the perfect time to create or spruce up your backyard kids’ play area. However, you may be wondering how to start. There are both simple and grand ways you can upgrade your space to be the place your kids always dreamed it would be. From installing a car tire swing to planting edible perennials, Redfin reached out to experts across North America, including our little nursery, to give you our best tips on how to create the ultimate backyard kids’ play area.
Plants for play
Introducing edible perennial plants can add a sense of wonder and exploration for kids and families to enjoy in any backyard play area. Edible perennial plants can add a lot of exciting dynamics to the backyard, from more shade to attracting more birds and beneficial insects to providing fresh healthy snacks while playing. Fruit, from shrubs and trees, can then be used to make fun recipes together like pies and jams, creating a whole backyard to table experience that will teach kids about where food comes from.
And best of all, edible perennials are low maintenance and grow back year after year, saving more time for your family to enjoy playing in your backyard together.
Science Exploration
Edible perennial plants will create more biodiversity and a stronger micro-ecology in your backyard. This can create numerous opportunities for kids to experience wonder and interest in science, especially biology and ecology. More birds, bees, and beneficial insects will make their way into your backyard to enjoy some of the food you have planted. Kids can watch bugs and worms in a healthy soil, listen to different bird songs throughout the year, and watch as buds turn to flowers that are pollinate by bees, and then slowly become tasty fruits. A backyard enriched with a diverse ecology, especially with food producing palnts, will ultimately enrich any backyard play and provide opportunities to peak kids’ curiosity in science and connect what they learn in the classroom into their own backyard.
