Hobbies play a crucial role in a child’s development. However, they are particularly important for children with autism, due to the benefits that come hand-in-hand with these activities. For example, they can help them develop useful life skills while also providing them with a break from the chaos of everyday life.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
While there are many different hobbies you may want to explore with your child, gardening is a great choice, especially if you’re looking for an activity that the entire family can get involved with.
What are the benefits of gardening?
There are many benefits associated with gardening as a family. For example, this allows you to:
- Spend quality time together as a family
- Reduce stress, anxiety and other negative emotions
- Grow your own fruit and veg while also lowering your energy bills
- Teach your child more about the natural world
- Teach your child to be patient and gentle as they nurture different plants and flowers
- Teach your child to be responsible, as this is something they will have to dedicate a lot of time and energy to.
Furthermore, according to a recent study, for individuals with autism, “gardening is a way to practice and improve fine motor skills in an engaging and less stressful way.”
Top tips for gardening with your child.
Choose easy-to-grow plants. If you (and your child) are relatively new to the world of gardening, then you should make sure that you focus on easy-to-grow or low-maintenance plants to begin with. This will allow you to get used to the process of caring for plants/flowers without any unnecessary stress or anxiety. Over time, you can always begin to challenge yourselves by introducing new greenery to the mix.
Some of the best plants for first-timers include:
- Sunflowers
- Radishes
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Eucalyptus
- Perennial flowers
You should also be sure to ask your child what kinds of plants and flowers they’d like to see in your garden. This allows them to feel a little more responsible, while also ensuring that you’re creating the kind of space that they would like to spend time in. You could turn this into a valuable learning opportunity by asking them to research the different plants and share some interesting facts about them with the family.
Reduce sensory overwhelm. Studies have found that upwards of 63% of individuals with ASD deal with sensory processing issues. As gardening can be an activity that activates all of the senses, finding ways to reduce this could be useful. For example, your child may prefer to wear soft gloves when gardening, especially if they are sensitive to touch. Alternatively, they may prefer to wear some kind of sound-cancelling headphones if it is particularly noisy outside. Being able to make this kind of adjustment means that your child can make the most of their time outdoors.
Buy the right tools. Before you get started on your gardening journey, you should be sure to buy all of the supplies you need to get the job done right. This includes tools that are designed specifically with children in mind, so that they can use them easily and safely. You may be able to find these items second-hand if you are working with a specific budget in mind.
Carry out complicated tasks yourself. While everyone in the family can help to keep your garden looking its best, you should make sure that your child is only given age-appropriate tasks to complete. For example, this could mean that you use the electric pressure washer to clean the driveway or surfaces yourself, while your child is tasked with watering the plants.
Put together a weekly gardening schedule. If you want a garden that looks beautiful all year round, this means that you need to work on it all year round. As such, you should put together a weekly gardening schedule that helps you to stay on top of this. Assign tasks to family members as discussed above, ensuring everyone is playing their part.
Final thoughts. Gardening is a great hobby for children with autism and related disorders; due to the fact that it can help with everything from boosting their mental well-being to improving their fine motor skills. It’s also an activity that the entire family can get involved in, serving as an excellent bonding opportunity.
As such, now that the weather is getting a little nicer, it’s time to start transforming your garden. While you may have a lot of work ahead, it means that come summer, your garden will be a beautiful place to spend time in.
