Jungle Theme

• Part of gardening with your kids involves allowing them to pick the theme and design for the garden and offering your own advice. If your child wants a secret hideaway, compromise and
  
  find a way to incorporate his ideas into the garden on a small scale.
  
  Create a secret hideaway with a jungle theme. Plant sunflowers in a mini-maze leading to a small twig hut covered in tomato vines. Stake out some pumpkins and watermelons around the hut to give the space a leafy, forested feel.
  
  

Container Garden

• If you don't have a backyard or digging up your lawn for a garden sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, give your child her own container garden. Make it large scale, at least to her eyes. Try a half-barrel garden or cluster several large containers together.
  
  Plant fast-growing herbs and mini versions of fruits and veggies like cherry tomatoes and basil, snow peas, radishes, miniature watermelons and lettuce. Trellis vining plants and arrange them so your child can create a secret reading nook or play space behind the containers. If she associates them with fun times, she'll be more likely to pay attention to and care for the plants without reminders.
  
  

Recycled Sandbox

• Kids love to emulate their parents. If you garden in raised garden beds, give your child his own version by recycling the sandbox. Sandboxes are just about the perfect size for a small child's garden and the container reflects the fact that this garden belongs to him. Start with fast-sprouting plants like carrots, corn, bush beans, pumpkins and nasturtiums. Nasturtiums are flowers, not veggies, but they pop up quickly and bloom bright orange and yellow. Try edging the garden with them to give it some color.
  
  

Garden Decorations

• No matter how quickly the garden springs up, your child may get bored with her garden plot if she doesn't see results as quickly as she thinks she should. To keep her interested, try making decorations for the garden. Create plant tags to stick in the soil so she knows which plant is which.
  
  Build a small scarecrow to keep pesky birds away. Pour plaster stepping stones so your child can explore her garden without harming it. Decorate plastic keepsake balls as garden globes to hang in the trees. You can also create signs with your child's name on them and the name of her garden. "Mary's Magical Fairyland" or "Alex's Moon Garden" are just two possibilities.