Planting a pollinator garden with kids is a fantastic way to connect them with nature while teaching them about concepts like ecosystems and biodiversity, and the interconnectedness of all living things.
Of course, they likely won’t realize they’re learning about these important concepts, but they will know they’re having a blast digging, watering, and watching for butterflies and bees. Moreover, the process of watching their garden grow and attract pollinators can be incredibly rewarding and motivating.
Good news: You don’t need to let this idea overwhelm you. You don’t need acres of sunny and flat yard space. You don’t need whole days to painstakingly plan and design an elaborate landscape. We know that those of us with kids, especially young ones, don’t always have the time, the energy, or the budget to plan elaborate things.
So start small, be patient, and embrace the chaos that can come when you grow with kids. The birds, butterflies, and bees will thank you. Read on and learn how to plant a kid-friendly pollinator garden as well as the next generation of growers.
If You Plant It, They Will Come
Let’s talk about accessibility. Young kids live in a world where everything is usually too tall, too big, or too heavy. Bring the garden down to their level, however, and they’ll feel a sense of ownership and independence. When kids can freely access and move about the landscape, they’ll be more likely to follow their curiosities and explore.
Planters and containers are easily accessible by tiny young gardeners. Make sure containers have adequate drainage and are sturdy enough so they won’t tip over. Already have a raised bed in the works? Collect rocks or make a brightly-colored sign to delineate a small corner as a kids-only pollinator garden.
Give children their own personal kid-sized hand tools, like trowels and watering cans. Fun colors and stickers certainly don’t hurt here! Small children, in particular, like having something that’s “their own” to decorate and use at their whim.
Plant Diversity
Unsurprisingly, pollinators require pollen or nectar all year, not just in the height of summer when we’re working outside. Ensure your planting provides year-round attraction for pollinators (and kids) by adding native plants that bloom at different times of the year. Kids may enjoy tracking the bloom periods of different plants and observing what is flowering that week.
| Spring-Blooming Perennials | Summer-Blooming Perennials | Fall-Blooming Perennials |
| Columbine | Butterfly weed | Asters |
| Wood phlox | Coneflower | Goldenrod |
| Beardtongue | Black-eyed Susan | Joe Pye weed |
| Lupine | Wild bergamot | Turtlehead |
| Wild strawberry | Blazing star Liatris | Blanket flower |
Did you know that bees base their colors on ultraviolet light and therefore see, and may even prefer, blue and purple flowers over other colors? Did you know that lobelia, trumpet creeper vine, and other tubular flowers coevolved with hummingbirds, to accommodate their long, narrow beaks and tongues?
These aren’t just fun facts to share with kids – these are important things to consider when planting for pollinators. Different flower sizes, shapes and colors, as well as varying plant heights and growth habits, will support the greatest number of different pollinators. Plant a variety, and you’re sure to attract a variety.
Share Some Shelter
Like people, pollinators need more than just food to survive; they require shelter too. Creating places for pollinators to nest, breed, and hide from predators and bad weather is crucial for their lifecycle. Habitat can be integrated into our communities in a variety of ways, some of them on a larger landscape level that might be difficult for kids to grasp.
However, there are many small-scale, kid-friendly things we can do as gardeners to help house bees, butterflies, and birds right in our yards.
Set up butterfly houses and bird nesting boxes throughout the yard, and make daily observations about what (or who) is seen coming and going from them. Consider installing a bat house near your house or garage, which will provide plenty of opportunities to observe bat behavior. Purchase a premade one, or better yet, engage kids in the project from the start by building a DIY bat house together.
However, the best pollinator habitat can be found right outside, no assembly required! Leaves, dead trees (“snags”), fallen logs, and brush piles are easy to establish and provide vital shelter and overwintering habitat for native bees, butterflies, moths, and other pollinators. It’s time to reverse the traditional thinking that yards need to be “clean” from all these very natural components of a healthy landscape.
Add Fast-Growing Annuals
Kids love to see the fruits of their labor instantaneously. Perennials and shrubs are fantastic for providing multi-year structure and consistent food for pollinators. Yet annuals that can go from seed to flower in a matter of months, or even weeks, can make for a very fun and educational experience.
Try fast-growing, gorgeous annuals, like zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, calendula, sunflowers, and nasturtium. These brightly-colored annuals are attractive to both pollinators and kids. They all grow happily in full sun and just about any type of soil, and are very easy to start from seed.
Sow these seeds directly in the soil once the temperatures are warm. Or, set up a kid-friendly indoor seed-starting project specially for pollinator plants. Show kids the different sizes and shapes of seeds, have them help fill seed starting trays, let them write labels for each variety, and encourage them to check on their seeds daily (I know I do!). Most of the above-mentioned plant types will germinate within a week.
Skip the Toxins
This tip sounds obvious, but it is so important that it feels worth putting in print. Most of the synthetic insecticides and herbicides that are sold to kill off nuisance organisms are also detrimental to beneficial bees, birds, and other pollinators.
Neonicotinoids, such as those used commonly on agricultural crops, lawns, and gardens, as well as in tick and flea medication for pets and livestock, are especially lethal to bee populations. Research has also shown neonicotinoids to be harmful to fish, reptiles, frogs, birds, and even mammals.
Instead of combating insects and weeds with toxins, focus on holistic maintenance practices. Amend soils with loads of compost, stick to organic fertilizers, use physical barriers like row covers to keep pests out of your crops, and remove weeds by hand pulling, tarping, or sheet mulching. Do these methods require a little more sweat equity? Yes. Are they also protective of human and pollinator health? Absolutely.
Final Thoughts
The summer my daughter turned two, I watched as she climbed over the edge of one of our raised beds and tramped happily over some freshly transplanted tomato seedlings. I fought my knee-jerk reaction to groan and clench my jaw, and instead gently directed her towards the mulched path.
Now, as she is about to turn four, she has a much more nuanced understanding of the garden space. She still has just as much fun spraying everything in sight with the hose, piling driveway gravel in all the pots of coleus by the door, and pulling petals apart to make potions. Despite all that chaos, I want her to have as much fun as possible in our yard, because it’s meaningful time spent together. So, I’ve loosened up my growing “standards.”
If you want kids to explore and be curious about pollinators, you’ll have to let them into the garden. And I mean, in. Young children in particular, will have no concept of soil compaction or just how delicate newly transplanted seedlings truly are. But they will absolutely delight in helping you fill up a watering can, searching for butterflies, and painting a bird nesting box with you.
If you have specialty plants that are particularly precious or fragile, consider planting them out of sight or behind a fence. But, the best tip for planting a pollinator garden with kids? Relax, and invite them in.
