Fun Vegetables to Plant With Kids

Easy-to-Grow Vegetables

• Children enjoy watching their hard work pay off, so it's wise to start with a few fast-growing vegetables. Beans grow as a vine and begin growing in as little as a week to 10 days. After planting seeds, use twigs or stakes to create an area for the vines to climb. Cucumbers are another easy-to-grow plant, plus the seeds are large and easy for children to handle. Lettuce, onions and radishes are three more speedy plants for children to plant.

Colorful Vegetables

• Vegetables, such as peppers, maze, hybrid carrots, come in a variety of colors. While peppers need a long growing season, they change colors throughout. As an added bonus, they may be eaten during any stage of growing. Maze is interesting because of the different colors it produces on one cob. Carrots come in red, yellow, orange and even purple. They're easy for children to dig up, acting as buried treasure.

Themed Veggie Gardens

• Children benefit from starting a themed vegetable garden. Instead of the standard garden with rows of random vegetables, allow children to pick a theme, such as a letter or a color. For example, if she chooses the color red, only red vegetables would be grown in her garden. Think red peppers, tomatoes and radishes. You could also pick a rainbow theme and grow them from left to right in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Order the vegetables alphabetically for an alphabet garden. Not only will your child become more familiar with gardening, she'll also learn how to categorize.

Getting Your Child Involved

• If your child is not enthusiastic about getting down and dirty in a garden, encourage him to help by letting him pick what he wants to grow. A child who isn't fond of spinach may not wish to grow spinach is his garden. Instead of forcing him to grow specific vegetables, offer alternatives. For example, if he's impartial to red tomatoes, opt for a sweeter option, such as yellow grape tomatoes. Allowing your child to decorate pots and containers for his plants may also motivate him to get involved in growing a vegetable garden. He'll be able to check and water his plants daily to monitor progress.