Each niece or nephew has a spot in my garden where they can plant anything they want. It's seasonal and very educational as well. Typically, we go to a local Botanic Gardens every season to see what's blooming. Now in fall ,we are planning for our spring garden.

Go through catalogs with pictures and let each child choose what flowers they want in "their patch." Draw an outline of the bed shape & size on a piece of paper. Then let them use crayons to draw what it will look like in spring, where they want each flower, etc. Finally go to a flower show, store or order through catalog or online the bulbs or plants.

When the flowers arrive, you can plant anytime in October or November. Your nieces and nephews get some great dirt-time in, and true knowledge of how plants grow, how bugs look, organic vs. chemical planting, all the natural & environmental sciences right there at your fingertips.

Finally, when spring comes, you are rewarded with not only lots of visits, but beautiful flowers and the most amazingly proud little face saying, "I did that!".

Some add-ons:
* use winter to make craft concrete stepping stones, or beaded decorative items for their "patch"
* over winter, start planning what veggies & flowers they'll want to plant in spring
* take some flowers to local elderly home, or veggies to food pantry
* take pictures of each step for each planting season- they can use it for show-and-tell
* press some flowers from each season for scrapbook It's really SO much fun!