We have a major problem in our garden. Besides the weeds and general early spring disorganization. Rocks! They push through from the other side of the fence, and I kind of hate seeing them all over my garden. The fence is old and rickety, so the rocks don’t have much trouble sneaking through and making their way into our garden. This year I decided to do something about it! I’m paying my kids to pick them up and return them to their home. When I was a kid my mom told me about when she was a kid…her dad would pay her a penny for every dandelion flower she picked. Good idea, right? Grandpa was a smart guy. I adjusted for inflation (completely nonscientifically), and told them I’d pay them 5 cents for every rock they picked up and took back. After seeing how many rocks they were collecting in pretty much no time, I retracted my offer and told them I’d pay them 2 cents for every rock. They were still excited to be earning money (actually, a lot of money), so I didn’t feel bad about going cheap! I paid $12.90 for today’s load of rocks. Tomorrow we might go down to 1 cent…
So many rocks! Almost as many as the weeds. Almost.
They come from underneath...
They spill through the broken slat...
They push through!
He was a super star, he collected tons! And earned a lot more money than I expected.
Even Little Princess got excited about it! I’m still not sure she even understood that she was earning money, but she collected 135 rocks.
He totally cleaned up! That would be 18 piles of 20 rocks each.
All rock collecting immediately stopped when they found a potato bug. Which is trying not to get smashed in between his little fingers.
And look! A potato plant is poking through!! One of the potatoes we missed last year…kind of makes me happy we didn’t get them all.
And now for the GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!
Super Easy! Just leave a comment with your idea of how to involve kids in yard work or in the garden.
What have you tried? What have you heard about? What do you want to try?
The winner will receive a Western Gardens gift certificate for $30!
For additional entries, post a link to this giveaway on Facebook, then leave a comment telling me that you did.
Or blog about this giveaway and link back to this blog, then leave me a comment saying that you did.
Winner will be randomly chosen…the more comments you leave, the better your chances!
Giveaway closes on Wednesday, April 25th at midnight.
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Laurie said,
Wrote on April 21, 2012 @ 2:00 am
When my kids were little I paid them a penny per snail—solved our garden snail problem in a hurry!
Jami Nielsen said,
Wrote on April 21, 2012 @ 3:27 am
We have a million pine cones in our yard, so I give each kid a grocery bag and tell them to see how many they get. The winner gets a treat…the winner always gets 3 treats so they can share with their brother and sister!! Great idea on the rocks and the money!!
Solducky said,
Wrote on April 21, 2012 @ 4:54 am
Going on bug hunts! A good chance to teach the difference between good bugs and pests in the garden too. And then I can squish the squash beetles or other pests.
soluckyducky at gmail dot com
Renee G said,
Wrote on April 21, 2012 @ 5:36 am
I used to have my boys make veggie pictures and then we stapled them to wooden popsicle sticks to label the rows in our garden.
rsgrandinetti@yahoo(dot)com
Ruthann H said,
Wrote on April 24, 2012 @ 3:33 am
My four year old helps me by pointing out all the “nasty” weeds (goat head thorns) he also points out all the poop in the yard. Such a helper!!
Sarah B said,
Wrote on April 24, 2012 @ 4:15 am
I got a set of child sized garden tools for my 4 year old and give her her own little patch to work in. She chooses what to plant and gets to learn the ins & outs by working her “garden”!
Jenette said,
Wrote on April 24, 2012 @ 4:21 am
I let the kids pick what kind of garden they want to plant. My daughter did a pizza garden and my son a ratatoulli garden. They each have their own grow box and take care of their garden from seed to harvest and preparation. They have so much fun doing it! They are very possesive of their gardens and make sure the weeds stay out and the plants get the water they need. Great way to teach responsibility and a self-sufficiency skill!
Kammi B. said,
Wrote on April 24, 2012 @ 5:12 pm
We give our kids plants and seeds as gifts, like at Easter time or for birthdays. They sometimes will get a little hand shovel or gloves to go with them. Each year they get a spot to plant their own garden items. Sonetimes their spot requires a little bit of weeding so we make that a family activity. I have to remind them to water their plants every once in a while, but it’s so rewarding for them to see that they grew something all by themselves. Even more rewarding when they can eat what they grew! Also, in the summertime we have fun making an “only from our garden” dinner. We eat only what we pick from the garden. Gets us to go out and pick our veggies and fruit, and plan a meal together. My kids are much more interested in what we plant, and how we take care of our garden now.
Jane C said,
Wrote on April 24, 2012 @ 8:46 pm
I remember as a kid getting paid at an aunt’s house a penny a weed. But my favorite thing was picking raspberries! It is always fun to know you are helping to grow something you can eat later!
P.S. I posted on facebook
Melissa said,
Wrote on April 24, 2012 @ 9:01 pm
We have weeds that grow from bulbs in our garden. In order to get my little brother to dig out the bulbs as well as the plants, we have hidden arrowheads and other fun things in the dirt by the plants.
Paula said,
Wrote on April 24, 2012 @ 9:16 pm
We got our kids interested in gardening by letting them pick seeds and plant them on the condition that they had to help water and weed. And they were excited to see their results. My daughter started by helping with planting a watermelon she was 4 at the time.
Deanne said,
Wrote on April 24, 2012 @ 11:03 pm
Our favorite Primary teacher Lani gave her little 3 year old class a lesson on water and what a gift it is from Heavenly Father. She gave the kids each their own watering can, I can’t tell you how many times our little grand-daughter is bringing it to me to help me water outside. When my girls were little each had their own row in the veggie garden, some wanted to plant veggies, but one liked flowers the best so she planted those. We would go on snail hunts and stick them in a big ziplock and leave in the sun to cook. The kids got a kick out of that, they foam up, sick I know, but kids like that kind of stuff. Two out of the three are great gardners in their own homes now.
Deanne said,
Wrote on April 24, 2012 @ 11:10 pm
I put a link on facebook telling how much I love the plants you have at Western Gardens. Would love to win the gc……..
Katie said,
Wrote on April 25, 2012 @ 12:42 am
I have my boys see if they can get up to 100 weeds…we have a very weedy patch of gravel. The 7 year old easily made it and then decided he wanted to go to 1000! He got up to 475 in one day. My friend asked what they get for doing this. I said, “Um, the satisfaction of pulling 100 or 1000 weeds.” No prizes necessary, but I might copy the penny per rock idea for rocks that make their way out of a pathway into the lawn.
Tobi Sanders said,
Wrote on April 25, 2012 @ 5:37 am
I worked in the front yard weeding again, but this time I had my three little granddaughters help me. They picked up about 100 pinecones and made a bundle of money. After that, they got right into the dirt with me. I gave them a spade or fork and boy did they have a ball kicking up the dirt. At one point, Bella started to collect Rolly Pollys. A little later I asked her where the Rolly Pollys were and she opens her little sweaty hand and had about 20 poor little guys in her palm. I had her put them back into the dirt. I worked in the yard for over 2 hours and they never left me, sweet little darling.
Eric Foutz said,
Wrote on April 25, 2012 @ 4:09 pm
While we were out working in the yard the other day our sweet 2 year old decided to make a beautiful bouquet of pretty yellow dandelion flowers. She is not quite old enough to really understand what is a weed and a planted flower so we are happy to let her wander around the yard gathering her “beautiful” dandelions while we do the dirty work.
Eric Foutz said,
Wrote on April 25, 2012 @ 4:13 pm
I posted this on my facebook page so now all my friends can be a part of this!
Melissa Wilson said,
Wrote on April 25, 2012 @ 5:47 pm
Heres an idea: Give the kids a bucket or bag, whatever is easy to hold, and whoever can collect the most unwanted garden/yard items in 10 minutes gets a prize
Melissa Wilson said,
Wrote on April 25, 2012 @ 8:56 pm
I shared on fb
Jeremy Wilson said,
Wrote on April 25, 2012 @ 9:08 pm
Make a game of “HORSE” out of it. Ya know, like the basket ball game. 1st kid does something, say like pick 10 weeds in 30 seconds. Kids after have to do that. If they don’t complete the task in the set amount of time, they earn a letter, and so on…..
Jeremy Wilson said,
Wrote on April 25, 2012 @ 9:13 pm
I shared this of fb so ann my friends can be a part of it too!!
Tisha said,
Wrote on April 25, 2012 @ 11:51 pm
We split our family up and see who can fill their buckets full of weeks first. My girls LOVED that. I think they loved that we got rained on too. They keep asking to do it again and we shall the weeds in my parking strip are fierce.
Megan Ure said,
Wrote on April 26, 2012 @ 4:17 am
I posted this on my facebook page/wall. Love reading the ideas from everyone so far. I will have to try some of them out.